I'm 10 weeks into my "STRiVE to THRiVE" FULL POTENTIAL LIFE STRATEGY. I used the first 4 weeks to get some needed rest from an exhausting year of overwork (I also used the first 4 weeks to dive even deeper into my prayer life, Bible study, wisdom acquisition, wisdom application, and remotivation).
Over the past 6 weeks I've been proactively pursuing a fitness approach that I can maintain consistently in nearly every life circumstance, life situation, and lifestyle structure. Since I'm camping and traveling up to 5 months each year as well as working in a very physically and time demanding profession it is very easy to become inconsistent with fitness and nutrition.
During my prayer time God has been challenging me not to concern myself with adjusting my situation, but rather to increase my DISCIPLINE. My circumstances and situations will always be changing which makes them impossible to submit to a consistent schedule, but if I increase my DISCIPLINE then I can adjust to nearly every circumstance and situation in order to maintain consistency. So I've been doing exactly that, increasing my DISCIPLINE. And the results have been great! Despite the 10 day hurricane preparations and evacuation, my increased DISCIPLINE enabled me to stay consistent. Despite a 6 day physically demanding adventure to Colorado, my increased DISCIPLINE enabled me to stay consistent. Despite occasional days of not feeling like working out, my increased DISCIPLINE enabled me to stay consistent. So, as always, God was right. This one improvement is already yielding great fruit.
My first step in putting it all together was to take everything I've already learned about fitness and nutrition over the past 34 years and combine it with my personal situation (time constraints, travels, limitations, personal experiences, daily rhythms, past trials and errors, past successes, past failures, current opportunities, etc) and remove any hurdles that tend to derail consistency (such as driving 30 minutes away to a gym or pushing off my workout until later in the day or making a workout plan that takes up too much time). Atter I had all these ingredients I was then able to create a customized fitness program for me with the highest likelihood of consistent success. I call it: S.T.R.O.N.G. (Strength Training, Respiratory-Oriented, & Nutritional Growth). It's very simple. I workout with intentional intensity for 25 minutes first thing in the morning 6 days per week at my home office. 3 alternating days are for strength training (wt lifting), the other 3 alternating days are for respiratory-oriented training (cardio), and all 6 days are nutritional training (clean eating) since 75% of a successful workout is accomplished in the kitchen. It's all backed by good science and past personal experience. And for the times I'm away from the home office I have a collection of travel workout equipment including stretch bands, jump ropes, and information (our bodies are their own gym... go jogging or do push-ups, etc) and I have contingency plans if all else fails (such as a 10 minute workout if I can't complete my 25 minute workout) and protein shakes, Shakeology, and healthy meal replacements to keep me on the straight and narrow.
So I'm experimenting with a lot of good ideas, past successes, and wise input to create a fitness program that causes me to THRiVE and eventually become an emphasis of this ministry. Afterall, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we only get one body to journey through life with. Our closeness to God nor our level of faith overrides the personal responsibility of the management and stewardship of our physical bodies. In other words, my fitness or lack of fitness isn't God's responsibility... It's mine. He has given me every instruction, every proverb, every ounce of wisdom in His word on how the body was designed to eat and function. If I unnecessarily suffer... that's on me.
