Urban Thought Collective

Greetings UTC! It is truly an honor to be welcomed into this fine collective of urban thinkers! It is my aim that by sharing my experience as a fitness trainer for over 14 years, readers will feel encouraged, glean some additional direction and pick up some helpful tips, tools and tidbits along the journey to living a happier and healthier life.

The mission of my company, Fit4LA.com, is to make fitness available to everyone, no matter what race, religion, economic status or social identification.

I’d like to begin by sharing what I have found to be the key to success, not only in life, but in specifically in achieving and maintaining fitness related goals and aspirations. The FIT4 Principle™ consists of several thoughts attitudes and suggestions that, when put into action, have consistently yielded significant, life-lasting, duplicable results.

I will share this formula and expound on each of it’s components with each blog entry. So, without further delay, allow me to introduce Step 1 of The FIT4 Principle™.

F – “FIND YOU” – Find who you are, what you are and where you are

FIND who YOU are, what YOU are and where YOU are. It’s okay to want something more or different for ourselves, but in order to accomplish that, we must take a realistic look at our current state. We spend so much time trying to fit ourselves into notions of who we “should” be but don’t spend enough time figuring out who we actually are. We must know our starting point before we can get to our final destination.

FIND who YOU are. Are you self-motivated? Or are you a slacker or procrastinator? Do you jump right out of bed in the morning? Or do you, like me, continually hit the snooze button until those extra 7 minutes of bliss are overcome with the horror of “If I don’t get my *ss up right now, I’m going to be late!” Can you hold yourself accountable? Or do you let yourself slide? If I give you an exercise plan to do are you going to follow it on your own or do you need someone to watch over you? Are you a mover and shaker or an excuse maker? How consistent are you? Are you steady and even-keeled, able to stay the course or do you start something with all the fervor and gusto of a New Years Resolution only to peter out 2 weeks later? Are you only in the gym in January and 2 weeks before an event at which people will see the results of the late night wine and ice cream cravings?

It is important to know the answers to all of these questions and what is most important to know is that whatever your answers are, It’s Okay! We should be able to look at ourselves without judgment, without beating ourselves up, without feeling inadequate. At the same time, we can’t ignore the white elephant. What white elephant? We need to know who we are; how we react, our patterns, our excuses, our bad habits and also know that in the end, it’s all good! As Gloria Foster, the Oracle in “The Matrix” would say, “temet nosce” - “Know thyself” (Or “nosce te ipsum” for all you Latin traditionalists out there. I see you! – Oh, my God, did my inner-nerd just peek out?).

The truth is we are all of these things at different times and the more honest and aware we are about whom we are most often, the more success we will have when it comes to achieving our fitness goals. With a clear and honest perspective, it is much easier to set ourselves up to win. We can customize our fitness program around who we are and it will be a much better fit because we aren’t trying to force a square peg into a round hole (and eventually won’t be trying to force a size 14 *ss into a size 8 pair of jeans. I see you too!)

For example, if you know you can’t wake up at 7:00am, don’t sign up for the sunrise boot camp down the street, unless, of course, it includes a complimentary wakeup call. If you loose your steam 2 weeks into a commitment, don’t sign up for a lifetime membership at 24 Hour Fitness because they told you that today’s the last day they can wave the initiation and application fees. (I used to work there, can’t you tell?) If you like a glass of wine at night, don’t put yourself on the Atkins’ diet and try to pretend wine is not a carb. (Have no fear; there are ways to work your caloric intake around it.)

It is absolutely possible to get the body you want and deserve, but it must start form a place of clarity and complete honesty. It is the only way! If you need an unbiased perspective when trying to Find who You are, get help. Ask a trusted friend (you know the one that will actually tell you if your breath stinks), a coworker, fitness professional or anyone who you fell will be honest with you and not give you the Hollywood “You look great, I wouldn’t change a thing!” answer. Sometimes it’s better to get an outside opinion.

Stay tuned for more tips, and good luck on all your fitness and nutrition related endeavors.

Until next time, all good things…

Lanre Idewu, B.S., C.P.T. is a Celebrity Fitness Trainer and founder of Fit4LA.com,whose mission is to make fitness accessible to everyone. His carefully customized tips for living fit are exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.

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