Lie number one: I don’t have enough time to exercise (or whatever).

I have covered this in a previous article back in 2011, but this point bears repeating. We all have the same 24 hours a day, nobody gets more nobody gets less. There are 86,400 seconds per day, period. The truth is this you choose what you do with your 24 hours, and if exercise and being healthy was important, you would get it done because it would matter to you.

Don’t believe me? If you got a call during your busy day and your child or your best friend was sick and needed a ride to the hospital immediately – would you make time? Absolutely. Would it matter that you were busy? Not a chance. I risk being preachy here, but I hear people say they don’t have time to exercise, and later I hear them talking about the TV show they watched last night, or the coffee shop time they had with a friend. Please don’t get me wrong – watching TV or a trip to a coffee shop isn’t bad or good, it’s just a choice. Just like getting healthy, it’s a choice. It’s often a difficult choice, because life is not set up to support us in choosing something like daily exercise. Work demands more and more of us all the time, children and family demands can be overwhelming, but let me ask you this — what could possibly be more important than your health? If you are healthy, and have more energy – you can be more productive at work, keep up with your kids and be sick less often. Exercise is not a task, or a ‘to do’ item, it is an investment in you, and if you are like me, it is way too easy to put yourself last on the list. So I challenge you to change that. Make your health a priority and get it done. Choose what you do with

your time wisely.

Lie number two: I can’t afford it.

Once again, this is simply not true for several reasons. First, exercise doesn’t have to cost anything at all. Go for a walk, run on the spot, do burpees, pick up something heavy and put it down a bunch of times, work in the garden for a few hours, go for a 20 minute run, vacuum the house, anything that moves and challenges your body. Now consider this. Basic cable TV starts at $40 a month, a massage is $70 for an hour, a game of golf is over $60 a round, a two-hour movie with a friend, including popcorn is over $40. Any one of those things will cover your gym fees for a month and will improve your life.

I love to watch a good TV show or a movie – but it is not making my life better. A current gym membership at a good club will cost under $2 a day. That’s less than a cup of coffee. So for most people, “I can’t afford it” means “I would rather spend my money on something else.”

And that is totally fine, it’s your life – just don’t say you cannot afford it – because that is a lie.

As you can see, both of the two biggest lies come down to the same exact point: choice. That’s it.

It’s simple. We choose what we want in life, and what we are willing to do to get there. Whether it is time or money, because really, those are to two biggies, and both occur in limited amounts. We only have so much time each day and most of us only have so much money – so how we spend either one is critical. Here’s the thing — when it comes to fitness (or family, or whatever you deem important in your life) you must look at the money and time spent, as an investment instead of a cost. That means you must be clear about the payoff, otherwise you wouldn’t use up your precious resources on it.

Take fitness for example. Why is it worth your time and money? What does it give you? I believe it pays off hugely in general well-being, less sick days, more friends, the ability to move, and choose what you do in a day. A longer life, but not only that, a richer, more full life of possibilities, rather than limitations. When you are fit, you can choose to do things that unfit people are not capable of.

So end the lies, and choose to live your life by your design, whatever that

may be.

Scott McDermott is a personal trainer and owner of Best Body Fitness in Sylvan Lake. He can be reached at 403-887-7667 or check out www.personaltrainersylvanlake.com for more information.