I’ve seen a lot of infographics in my day, and most of them…well, aren’t that great.
I found this one the other day, and quite to my surprise, it’s not too bad. Heck, it might even be decent! I like this one because it presents a glimpse into the big picture of health and fitness instead of just focusing on one tiny, often insignificant element. Yes, this is just an over-sized image with a bunch of cliff’s notes, but it’s light-years better than most of the largely irrelevant minutia out there (my disagreements with some of the content aside).
Keep in mind it’s important to think of health and fitness both in a macro and micro sense. You need to understand the big picture to understand the little details, and vice versa.
Check it out…
Source: BestHealthDegrees.com (hat tip goes to Rusty Moore)
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m still not sold on the whole idea of body hacks yet. Maybe it’s the whole hacking part I just can’t wrap my head around.
You see, we are living in a culture that is inundated with ideas on how to trick the body into doing what we want it to. But the truth is, we’re not fooling anything, or anybody for that matter – except ourselves.
If you really think that a few specific tricks, or if you prefer the trendy word, hacks, are going to help you achieve your fitness goals, then you’ve been tricked indeed. You simply cannot fool your physiology.
And I hate to say it, but it’s going to take a lot more than a few quick fixes to undo a lifetime of habits. Actually, I don’t hate saying that at all because it’s the truth.
And the truth is, if you want to completely change everything about your health, fitness, and your body, you’re going to have to completely change everything about the way you live your life.
Factoid: apart from your genetics, the way you live = the body you get
I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is.
Ah, there I go apologizing for something I shouldn’t be again.
But really now, you know this is true. And depending on your level of resolve, you might even be able to accept that it’s true (note: I think you can!).
Sure, we’re all at different stages, and the point of stages is not to compare ourselves to the status quo or to each other. The point of stages is to move forward. That’s it. End of story. It doesn’t matter where you’re starting from (or restarting from). It matters where you’re going.
I will say this. The infographic above is one of the better ones I’ve seen. And if you systematically implement most, if not all, of the ideas contained in it, you will be off to a great – GREAT – start.
That said, my point in posting this smorgasbord of health and fitness tips is not to overwhelm you with the 1,000 things you NEED to be doing to achieve your goals. Quite the opposite, in fact. I’m hoping that in reading over the many ideas, that you came away with a few things that you know that you know THAT YOU KNOW you should probably start working on – and soon.
So, you want my advice?
If you need an immediate and radical improvement in your health because your life or quality of life is on the line, then pick the 2 or 3 most important ones and work on them one by one until you’ve mastered each of them. Give yourself at least a month for each one. And make sure that you plan an approach that you are 100% sure you can stick with. If you can do it all in one fell swoop, or go cold turkey, then great. But if you’re not 100% sure that your chosen strategy will work, then adjust your plan accordingly.
On the other hand, if you need a lot of change, and you realize it’s going to take awhile to put it all into practice, then pick the 2 or 3 easiest ones to implement, and again, work on them one by one until you’ve mastered each of them (1 month per habit minimum – that’s a minimum of one month to work on one habit – not a minimum of one habit per month – you get me?).
That simple advice will get you a lot further than most people – no matter how long they stare at that infographic.
So, get crackin’.
Loading ...If you found this article helpful, please share it with your friends and tweeps:
.jpg "John Sifferman")
CST Coach, CST-KS
Health-First Fitness Coach
P.S. If you liked this post, then please signup for the newsletter, or follow me on Facebook or Twitter for daily updates and other interesting info.
