I have always been a fairly active individual. I played sports in high school. I ran to keep in shape several times in my life. I lifted weights and I have now been involved in martial arts for the past 15 years. Being active and in shape helps all areas of life without exception.

I’ve listed the various areas of exertion already. what I did not mention is the lack of consistency over time. In all cases until recently, once a season was over or a few months went by, I would see the progress that I made and then check out in some way. Once that lack of commitment happened my physical and mental shape began to deteriorate slowly over months.

At some point after many months I would become disgusted with the way I felt, or how tight my clothes had become, or my lack of energy and start going back to the gym again. That commitment would be short lived and bound to failure over the next several weeks and moths.

This may sound like a downer of a column to read. Hang with me, the silver lining is about to appear!

Several years ago I had seen infomercials for P90X on TV. I found that a friend had that program and borrowed it. I found that it was very challenging. As I stayed with it over the 90 days, I saw my chest expand and my waist contract. Once I finished I liked what I saw. However, I did not stay with it. I tried several other Beachbody work outs, Beachbody is the parent company for P90X and many other workout regimens.

This year something changed in my work outs. I no longer just did a regimen. This time I also did the nutrition supplementation named Shakeology. At first I thought it was bogus and perhaps even a scam. However, I had a bunch of the stuff and decided to stay with the program. After several months I noticed much more energy, focus and change in body composition.

I’m no in my mid-50’s so pounds don’t come off as fast as in the past but the good news is that strength, agility, flexibility, etc. can be improved at any age. I have now been doing Beachbody workouts for 6 months straight. I am doing some extremely taxing regimens. I have crossed a line mentally and have made the decision to always be in a workout for the rest of my life.

The points that have made this transformation possible are:

1. Clear decision
2. Excellent nutrition
3. Challenging regimen
4. Seeing results
5. Encouragement from friends going through the same thing.

I use to see what I was doing as what I was doing. I now see that my efforts can only succeed if I am walking that path with a good community.

I always hope that my words inspire others. In this case I hope for more. I hope they lead to action. You will never be sorry for excellent physical health. My wife’s doctor once said to her that if he could make a pill that gave all the good benefits of exercise with no side effects he would be a millionaire. He then corrected himself to say that he would be a billionaire.

Invest in yourself! It will pay more benefits than you can now imagine.