The Benefits of Hobbies In a Fitness Journey
Being in the health and fitness field, I meet a lot of people with all different backgrounds and personalities. Before I take a potential client on the journey to their own success in health and fitness; I bring them through an assessment and consultation session. This is simply just to get to know the person a little bit more and give first hand experiences of what I do. I have found a concerning/trending answer to a question that I always ask. It is a seemingly easy question and does not really require a complicated answer, nor am I looking for one.
I ask:” So, What are some of your Hobbies?”
And to my surprise, I get a deer in headlights look back accompanied by a long pause, brief smile and then their answer mimics “Um…, I do not really know…I workout a few times a week?”
I am baffled every time!!!
Do people really not have hobbies anymore?
Do you not have something you love doing; do you just wake up, work and sleep everyday every year?
What is a Hobby?
Real Dictionary Definitions
hob·by/ˈhäbē/
Noun: 1. An activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure
2. A hobby is a regular activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure, typically done during one’s leisure time.
3. an activity pursued in spare time for pleasure or relaxation
Urban Dictionary Definitions( and clever Examples)
1.Hobby
Something you like to do and regard as a proud.
Ex:(Wrong)
Tom, what is your hobby?
Nose picking.
……
(Right)
Tom, what is your hobby?
Inventing, I am recently making a nose-picking machine, NP-18.1, which not only picks my nose, but also gives it massage and physical therapy, when I dont pick my nose, it works as an ipod.
Cool.
2.hobby
a pastime, something you enjoy doing in your spare time
EX: I take pride in my hobby — homemade bongs using my engineering degree
5.Hobby
A random thing that you do in your spare time and it has nothing to do with the rest of your life.
Something that is senseless.
A thing that nobody except for you gives a shit about.
Jimmy’s hobby is to collect stamps.
6.hobby
Something you like enjoy doing until you decide making it your profession…
Programming! Remember how much you liked to do complex programs, tricks or scripts to impress your friends (or yourself)? It was cool to do it just because YOU WANTED to do it. But get into IT and the last thing you’ll do in your free time is to sit on your PC for hours programming. It won’t be your hobby anymore!
Why not having one Is actually hurting your fitness
According to the definitions; a Hobby is doing something that you like, enjoy doing, done with Pride, frequency and of genuine interest to the person doing it.
Without having a hobby…what are you doing in your free time?
Are you just mindlessly “relaxing”, scrolling through the On Screen channel guide? or just sitting there stressing out over what happened the last 8 hours of your day?
Outside of your work and generic home life activities’ how are you being mentally stimulated?
Being mentally stimulated does not mean added work or occupational stress. It means creativity, stress relief, getting lost in your own thoughts, social interaction, a personal success and Maintaining your own sanity.
I personally find that having hobbies keeps me more sane and settled. Sometimes life can be full of stress that is totally out of your control and, having a hobby gives me something I can look forward to doing and have excitement/relaxation while doing. If you hit a snag or obstacle in your hobby the best part is you can literally walk away from it for as long as you would like to. The biggest advantage of a personal hobby is that it has a certain level of importance only to you. Others might like your hobby but, you do it because you just like it. I know at this point you are asking “what does this have to do with the gym or exercise?” and The main point is that a hobby is self inflicted activity for nothing more than personal enjoyment and not forced upon you. A Hobby that is forced will feel like work (IS WORK), be frustrating, stressful, annoying, and seen as a burden to your life.
Don’t Force Enjoy Fitness
Not everyone can make FITNESS or GOING TO THE GYM a hobby! That is just the honest truth. Not everyone enjoys conventional fitness enough to have it be their hobby.
Yes, you may have a goal related to fitness but that does not mean it has become your hobby. Not everyone has that deeply seeded enjoyment for working out no matter how serious their goals are and it;s OK. If you don’t it will feel like you are forcing yourself to workout; what happens when you start being forced into doing something you hate doing? Your effort lacks a little, enthusiasm lacks, drive lacks and you start reaching for excuses…oh yea and you become miserably stressed. For someone looking to better themselves with fitness, once the results stop showing this activity you once thought was pleasurable and stress relieving starts to taste sour every time you think about it.
I think some people make this mistake and try to force their ambitious fitness goals into their hobbies and just like super restrictive diets, often “fall off the wagon” pretty hard when results slow down. Instead of finding something that is meant to balance the stress they are piling on new stress that can have a terribly negative impact towards your goals. terribly negative impact on your happiness.
You need to know A little bit about yourself you are inside and out and not worry about what others think you should be or be doing. If the gym feels like a punishment or you look for excuses to avoid it then it is not a hobby. There are plenty of ways to get into fitness outside of the conventional ones, find you happy medium that allows you to reach a goal you have without loosing the qualities that made you who you are.
You may feel forced into your job in order to support your way of life and family responsibility but outside of work you have control over what you are doing. Make your life a life you love living.
The solution to finding your Hobbies
It’s more simple than you may think. I will leave you with a simple sentence that is a great starting point regardless of who you are.
Finish this sentence: I wish I did ___ (Fill In The Blank) ____ More Often or like I used to.
SOME OF MY HOBBIES (in order of enjoyment)
Art: Pen/Pencil Drawing and Airbrush /Acrylic Painting
Exercising (I lift things up and put them down)
Fantasy Football/Sports ( I am currently 6–0…badass)
Video games (Madden and Call of duty are fun)
Along with some less relevant ones that are more “impulse hobbies” that are kind of random but, in the end still enjoyable.
…Find A Hobby
Originally published at fitletes.com
Thanks For taking the time out of your day to read.
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