WHEN A NEURO-SEMANTICIST GOES TO THE GYM

Many people start the New Year with a New Year Resolutions to get (or stay) in shape by exercising, running, losing weight, becoming more fit, etc. So I thought I’d write about how one Neuro-Semanticist approaches this subject—me. On the surface, “going to the gym” seems like a strictly physical thing. It’s a performance. But it is not. It is so much more.

Behind or above that surface performance, and deep inside each person, is a series of meanings. It’s the meaning that actually determines whether you will be successful or not. It’s the meanings that determine whether you will stay with it and make it a lifestyle. It is meaning which determines whether you will enjoy it or endure it. Having made “daily exercise” a lifestyle in 1975, I now have 45 years of continual practice. So I think I can safely say that I have made it sustainable.

What I do and have done is established a habit of exercising at least 30 minutes a day, six times a week. Over the years I have run marathons, triathelons, and now run mountain trails. I have lifted weights, done calisthenics, and stretched. That’s the performance of the external activities. Nothing remarkable about any of that.

The meaning within and about that are also unremarkable except for one thing. They are my meanings. And that’s what makes exercising sustainable for any person— when you create personalized meanings about what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Intentional meaning. I began running in 1975 to lose weight. In the process I discovered that running provided many, many other benefits—it gave me a great shot of good feelings as the endorphins flooded through my body. It gave me “thinking time” for working out ideas and solving problems. Via running I learned to relax more fully, enjoy nature, and challenge myself. With running I felt better and looked better. For years I did not have a big why, just lots of highly significant whys.

The big Why came later. Discovering that daily exercise released stressed and rejuvenated my energy— today I go to the gym and/or run mountain trail (well, actually a slow jog) for ongoing sustainable energy and vitality. I don’t just “go to the gym,” or “work out.” That’s too boring and mundane. I exercise for energy and vitality so I can get up in the morning with zest and last into the evenings when trainings go to 9 or 10 pm. with plenty of mental and emotional energy. I do it to feel more alive — mentally, emotionally, and physically. Years ago, reading Arnold S. Biography, I came across a line about intentionality in exercising. He wrote, “One curl with intention is worth ten without.” Intentionality— to act with purpose.

Since then I found that some fitness instructors say, look at, even tap the muscle that you’re going to work so as to send a message to it— and to build an anticipation of developing it.

Understanding Meanings. Part of the meanings I activate when exercising is an understanding of what I’m doing in addition to why. Recognizing that the body needs to move— I look forward to doing things that move the body. Often at trainings in various hotels that means walking the stairs rather than taking the elevator. I walk where I can and stretch. Knowing also that muscles need tension, I look forward to figuring out to find new ways to fatigue a muscle so that it can grow. I look forward to flushing a muscle with blood knowing that in doing so it brings oxygen and nutrients and cleanses out toxins. Knowing that the heart and lungs are designed to be pushed and stretched, I look forward to exerting effort on one of the machines and watching my heart pulse rate.

I understand that I need three kinds of physical strength — cardio-vascular strength for my heart and lungs, skeleton strength for all of the muscles that hold the bones and organs in place, and flexibility strength that comes through stretching. Exercises in the gym on machines and with weights can be done properly or improperly. When done wrong, a person can do damage. So learning how to do an exercise right is important.

A new phenomena has appeared in gym in recent years— people sitting on an exercise machine texting, checking emails, watching movies. Incredible! What I wonder is, “Why in the world do you even bring your phone to the gym?” Quite often I have to ask people if I can use the machine. Often they are in a trance— and I have to first get their attention. To get the most out of the gym, I go from one exercise to the next without waiting or resting at all. I do “super-sets” that is, multiple sets one after the other. In doing so I make the exercising as aerobic as possible. That’s why I only need about 30 minutes to work out. I have had others do the routine I do and it took them an hour or more. They spent a lot of the time resting.

Personal meanings. The meanings that uniquely speak to us are personalized meanings. For me, I begin with the fact that I only get one body and so it’s my privilege to take good care of the one I have. Doing so makes me feel better, experience more zest and vitality, and even look better. Yes, gravity gets the best of all of us— and exercise can keep us young-thinking and looking longer. All of this enables me to access effective states for exercising. It enables me to positively look forward to exercising each day as a time for rejuvenation of energy.

Once upon a time I thought, “I’m too tired to exercise.” No longer. Over the years, time and time again, I have discovered that when I don’t feel like it, that’s the very time I need it most. I say, “I’m just going to do a little bit. Just to warm up.” But once I start, an amazing thing happens. I feel like I can do “a little bit more.” And I do. And that increases it even more. In the end, I work out a full 30 minutes and feel like I have achieved a victory over self in doing so.

Challenging meaning. Exercising that takes the form of participating in a “fun run,” or with a group doing a program together, or group sports (tennis, golf, basketball, racquetball, etc.) adds another dimension— the social dimension of competition and encouragement from others. Over the years I have had many running buddies. We’d meet at a certain time and run a particular route. Or we encouraged each other for a road race coming up. Alone, I would challenge myself either in terms of time, distance, quality of the run, etc. The fun was the stretch that pushed me out of the comfort zone.

Exercise— it does a body good. It does a brain good. It will do you— as a person— good.