image by LeeBrimelow

If our task is to create the future, then we need to be strong and energetic to accomplish it. For that reason, this month’s challenge is about fitness.

The fitness challenge follows up from our democracy and food challenges previously. It also connects to Megan’s piece, “What are we developing for?”

There certainly is no shortage on advice about how to be fit: TV and magazines are full of it. There is also still the fact that far too many of us are in less than optimal shape, and the consequences can be seen in a sadly wrong-headed healthcare system, our kids’ growing levels of obesity, the world’s food crisis, and our own loss of connection to the life energy.

Most of us don’t feel responsible for the body we have. For example, I have always been thin and I always loved exercise. On top of it, I teach exercise as a profession. But none of that means I was ever a) consistent, b) deliberate or c) committed. In fact it had to be pointed out to me that if I was to be a good Pilates instructor, I should at least be practicing the art seriously myself!

This past May, when I decided to train for a century bike ride (100 miles) to raise money for EnlightenNext magazine, it was the first time in my 48 years that I set myself a measurable goal to be pushed for in a certain amount of time. At this point, I have another four weeks to get myself up to speed, literally, to do the Cadillac Mountain Challenge Century in Maine on October 5.

It’s been an exhilarating effort so far, as I have extended my limit from 15 miles of hilly Berkshire terrain that literally made me think I was going to have a heart attack, to 90 miles this past weekend, getting faster and stronger all the time. Those hills I walked the bike up in the beginning are now manageable. My experience made me want to lead this challenge as I realized I had so many ideas about what fitness is, what I can and cannot do, and what it takes to get there.

The trick I found, is taking the time to build up the body’s craving for fitness – getting to the point of where doing the right thing becomes more desirable and enjoyable than doing the wrong thing, little by little. If we can get addicted to sodas and KitKats, so we can to fresh juices and almonds.

Having made a commitment to my friends and to the magazine fund-raising department has made all the difference. In fact, that collective aspect must be the key to WeightWatchers’s success and to all achievement – you won’t do it just for yourself. But if it is about your kids, your community of friends or even all of society, it’s a different picture.

Looking at fitness outside of a merely personal context is both the key to success and the place where I still have to face down the devil of inertia that keeps rearing its head every day to say “I don’t care, not right now.” When that happens, I think of my friend Laurie, who ran – yes ran – a full 100 miles a couple of years ago, for his 50th birthday!

Doing something that really challenges my body, my mind, and my attitude has alerted me to more subtle aspects of fitness as well. The most obvious benefit is the muscular strength that develops with consistency. Feeling strong gives me confidence and energy and is in itself plenty of reward for the effort.

Other benefits are noticeable on a deeper, more subtle level—the level of inner health and energy—which can come from practicing things like Chi Gong or Tai Chi. To me, the most inspiring fitness is one in which those levels come together, as in some martial arts, or as one of my fitness gurus, Shawn Phillips, teaches it.

And there is, maybe most important, the question of attitude—(maybe) I can versus I (probably) can’t!

I have discovered that the body seems happiest, at its most energetic, with 2-3 hours of exercise a day! That isn’t what the doctor will tell you, and seems impossible to do – but… if we want to create a new world, why not envision one in which there is time and space for that kind of possibility as well?

So here is my challenge: Apart from continuing the training rides which I supplement with Pilates and some very cool P90X, my personal challenge will be to do 10 minutes of Chi Gong every night. It helps me access a deeper power on those never ending hills and also helps with the various aches and pains that come with training intensively and doing new things.

Those 10 minutes of Chi Gong at night are my commitment and I trust that by the end of the month, they will have become my new addiction! Let me know about your personal fitness challenge and let’s keep each other going!