Your Treat To Yourself

We have a new student who signed up about two weeks ago, and since then I think I’ve seen her at class every day. She takes fitness and Krav, sometimes both in one day. It’s an impressive schedule for anyone, especially someone who has just begun her training process. I was talking to her last week about her diligence – as she sat at the desk crippled by soreness - and she said, “I’m trying to remember that this is my treat to myself.” That’s a profound perspective on training. I think many – most? – people look at their training as an obligation, a chore they do so they don’t get overweight, or so they can eat that piece of pizza, or drink an extra beer at night. They train because they know if they spend every evening watching Netflix they’ll fall apart, but they still see it as a chore. Well I understand that training is hard and lying on the couch is easy, even if you’re watching educational programming like Duck Dynasty, but is doing something bad for you really a treat? It’s an indulgence sure, and I indulge plenty myself – especially when my manager randomly decides to bring Krispy Kreme into the studio – but if you think that harming yourself is a treat, that sets a very bad precedent. What’s more of a treat to yourself: Gaining weight, or losing it? Sure it feels good for a couple minutes to eat a piece of cake, but then it’s days of guilt, slight nausea, and working out just to get back to where you were before you ate that cake. Training may take a little bit of willpower a lot of sweat, but it makes you look better and feel better, and that’s way more of a treat than dessert.