The Cost Of Not Training

Any economist will tell you that everything comes with a cost, and training is no different. The most obvious cost is your membership: Hopefully you're a member at Krav Maga Raleigh, but if not you undoubtedly have a gym membership somewhere, whether it's Planet Fitness or Crossfit or a yoga studio. Even if you get all your fitness from running outside and lifting rocks, you still need to buy shoes and impossibly short shorts, so nothing is totally free. There are other costs as well. Your time, your energy. Your will power. If you want to get results - whether losing weight, getting stronger, or learning to defend yourself - you have to work hard, and it's not always pleasant. So why train, if it's going to cost so much? Well when those smart economists say everything has a cost, they mean EVERYTHING. Sure training has a cost, but what's the cost of not training? Well there's your health of course. We're lucky to live in a country with plenty of food, but we eat too much of it. We're lucky (mostly) to work in climate controlled offices with comfortable chairs, and to have climate controlled cars so we can drive everywhere comfortably, and big soft couches with big TVs, but our health suffers greatly from that sedentary lifestyle. Is the cost of training greater than the cost of diabetes? Or chronic back pain, or years of your life? Imagine sitting with your doctor as he tells you you're going to have to take medication for the rest of your life: Is that really less expensive than a membership? And then there's the big one, which is your life. Or even worse, the life of a loved one. We're fortunate to live in a society where violence is a rare thing for most of us, but it does happen. And if violence does come to you, or your family, is it worth a few hours of your week to watch TV? If someone harms your children, is that cost offset by saving $100 dollars a month? Of course not. It's almost a stupid comparison when you really dig into it. But as humans we usually like to do what's easiest, not what's best. Even then, is it easier to train a few times a week and spend some money, or live your life weak and vulnerable? Sure, training is difficult, but if you don't train, LIFE is difficult. So you need to ask yourself, what will you gain by training today, and is it more than you'd get from not training? Of course it is.