It is not as easy as you think

I consider myself to be more in shape than most. I don’t run everyday but I can still run a comfortable 7 minute mile and hold it for 8 miles easy. I lift weights at least once or twice a week and I eat pretty well. But even I know my limits.

In today’s society we as a nation are not getting thinner but much fatter. Yes, much fatter and still we don’t have a clue! I was once at a car show and way in the back was the military. They were, I guess, recruiting and they had a chin up bar set up. As I was reading their sign it said, “5 chin-ups receive an army pen, 10 chin-ups receive an army hat, and 20 chin-ups receive an army shirt with the words “pain is weakness leaving the body” written on the back of it. There was a father with his little girl standing in line right in front of me and she wanted one of those shirts really bad. When I looked at him though, he was at least 30 pounds overweight and at least 3 months pregnant. I thought to myself, “Who is he kidding?” Well he gets up there and makes a total fool at of himself. He got a total of 2 done.

What concern me was not that he did something that his body was not ready for but that he thought he could just bang out 20 with no problem. I think he got a rude awakening. We have a tendency of thinking that we are ready for something when in reality we are not. Why? We don’t practice enough and we don’t put the time in to totally prepare our bodies for that activity. I just heard of a man who died trying to complete a triathlon. Yes, he died doing the swim, the most demanding and hardest part of the competition. I can’t speak for him nor was I there but I was told that he looked really out of shape and not prepared for it in any way. My condolences to his family and I hope this teaches us a lesson. We should not take any of these athletic sports for granted and we MUST practice before and get ourselves in some sort of condition before competing.

Competitive sports are not to be taken lightly and if you do take them lightly the consequences could be devastating. Prepare yourself and take it serious.


Kevin Ellis CPT