Health. Fitness. Life. These are three major aspects that encompass your world that – when working simultaneously in balance – can create a wonderful, healthy, happy, fit mind, body, soul and lifestyle. But when these three things are working against each other – or if one or two areas are slacking while the other area is being over-worked – it can cause inner chaos, stress, conflict, depression and perhaps even send your life in a downward spiral for a period of time.

We have all felt this at least once in our lives and asked ourselves the dreaded question: What am I doing wrong?
 

SEPARATE BUT EQUAL
This is where the skill of learning how to balance these three areas of your life comes into play. But wait, aren’t health and fitness the same thing? One could even argue that health, fitness and life are all the same thing.

Yes and no.

To clarify the way in which I am referring to use of the three areas in this article:

• Life: work, family, friends, social life, etc.
• Fitness: exercise, including strength/resistance-training and cardio, as well as a nutrition program
• Health: the state of your physical body (weight, metabolism, cardiorespiratory output blood profile, etc.)

If they are all working in balance then yes, each area will overlap and contribute positively to each other. Your fitness contributes to good health, good health contributes to a good life, and your good life propels you further along your fitness journey creating a positive upward cycle. If, however, you are paying too much attention to one area, the other two areas will inevitably suffer.

Let’s say you are going along your fitness journey and you’re feeling good, so you decide you want to kick things up a notch or two. You add a few more strength-training workouts to your weekly routine. So now you are now doing about seven workouts per week instead of five. Then you decide to add more cardio. Before you know it, between strength-training cardio, yoga, etc., you are working out seven days per week, sometimes twice a day. You are giving too much attention to the area of fitness, so your family and friendships may suffer (life). And without giving yourself at least one full day of rest per week for recovery, you will most likely get injured because you are constantly overworking fatigued muscles without allowing them to recover properly, so your health will suffer. I have seen this happen a number of times.

In contrast, we can allow our health and fitness to suffer because we are paying too much attention to life. For example, I have seen a number of clients who put themselves (health and fitness) on the back burner for 20-plus years in order to raise a family, or make work a priority so they could provide for their family, and ended up 50 to 100-plus pounds overweight with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes as a result.
 

BALANCE REQUIRES CONSTANT ADJUSTMENT
Because life is ever-changing, as is our health and fitness, we need to constantly be tweaking and fine tuning in order to maintain a certain level of balance. At some points in your life you may need to give just a little more attention to your family and do the best you can with your fitness and health. Then there will be other times that you feel you are able to give more attention to your fitness and health and your family will benefit from your good health (and your sanity from being able to workout regularly!)

For more on how to create your fitness village, read this past Tip Me Tuesday: Your Village Is The Key To A Healthy, Fit Body.
 

HOW TO ASSESS YOUR BALANCE
Remember, this is your life, your fitness and your health, and to balance all three of these areas will be completely different for every person. Of course, you can get advice and bounce ideas off the people close to you, but you are ultimately the only person who can determine what feels right and balanced for you.

If you aren’t sure if these three areas are balanced in your life, here are some ways you can do a self-check:

1) Do you feel unsettled or uneasy or uncomfortable with how things are going in any of these three areas?

2) Do you feel you are giving a lot more attention to one of these areas and the other areas are suffering as a result?

3) What will happen as a result if you continue to neglect one or two of these areas, and how will the other areas of your life be affected by this?

4) How can you readjust your schedule, your time, and your priorities to create more of a balance between all three of these areas?

5) What will the long-term benefits be for you and those you care about if you try to create more of a balance with all three of these areas?

Just as the body is always striving for homeostasis (a state of neutrality, harmony, balance) we are also constantly seeking balance with our life, health and fitness. With the right amount of effort, and planning, I’m sure you will be able to find it!

 
 

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Tip Me Tuesday: Enjoy The Journey
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Tip Me Tuesday: Maximize Your Cardio
Tip Me Tuesday: The Waiting Game
Tip Me Tuesday: Trust The Process – And Your Trainer!
Tip Me Tuesday: Your Village Is The Key To A Healthy, Fit Body

 

ABOUT NAOMI RABON
Naomi-lighterBIOOne of the trainers on Nicole’s elite NW Fitness Training Team, Naomi is a certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. She is a NPC Figure competitor who has been involved in the health and fitness industry for over 12 years.

Go here to find out more about training with the NW Fitness Training Team!

 
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