A&A Columns: Discipline and determination pay dividends

Anzhelika Tolstikhina, anzhelika. [email protected], is a sophomore nursing major.

In the case of building a beautiful body, the crucial aspect, without which the goal is not quite possible to achieve, is a regular exercise routine. It doesn’t necessarily mean a daily workout, although everyday training is one of the best habits a person can have to truly benefit his or her figure. Regular workouts are the ones without long breaks in between them. For example, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, month after month, year after year, with a maximum of one or two break-days per week.

The bigger the amount of time spent on fitness, the more sculpted the body gets.

In other words, let’s say a person comes to the gym, pushes themselves to the limits, trying not to moonlight, and then they see the occurring changes in their mirror reflection. In the same time, their body still needs a lot of work. Now the outer fat layer is gone and the cellulite is smoothed, but their back is still not traced, deltoids are not much different from the deltoids of a person who has never been in the weight-room, and calves and thighs are not defined. That chiseled figure has not been achieved yet.

Qualitative change in the volume and weight in the direction of increasing and decreasing with literate training and nutrition occurs within a few months. Any individual can quickly lose or gain weight without the bother of exercise if they simply cut back or increase their calorie intake. But such techniques will never give the person that “chiseled body.” Traced arms, legs and back are achieved within a few years of training sessions and without large time gaps in between them.

An individual cannot organically lay out in full and achieve the goal that requires years of work in a few months period. The importance of understanding the process is vital prior to going to the gym and the lack of that understanding so often leads to the frustration and withdrawal from the activity.

Only individuals who have at least a few years of continuous literate training behind their shoulders may boast about their bodies being “like in the magazines.”

If your goal is not to simply fit into the jeans or lose some weight before the upcoming cruise, for example, and build a truly beautiful chiseled body you have to begin exercising on a regular basis.

And then, here comes the ambush: you can’t get yourself up to go work out.

The only way not to skip a workout is to simply come to the terms of it’s inevitable. In order to accept the new reality in which the individual must dedicate a portion of the day to fitness they must shift their mind-set with an inclusion of higher standards in regards to fitness.

For example, the infants tend to eat even at night given that they need to be fed almost every three hours. Their mothers wake up multiple times every night and feed their babies despite the exhaustion. Why? Because feeding a child for them is inevitable.

Another example: we understand the importance of going to work because no one wishes to put themselves at risk of dismissal. Our jobs are inevitable for us because they are sources of money and thus have a large effect on further survival.

As long as your picture of the world doesn’t include everyday training as an inevitability, you’ll miss it. You will exchange the workout for gatherings in coffee-shops with friends; on good weather, when you want to take a walk in the park; on the couch, when you want to lie down; or even because, somehow, you’ve managed to assume that your friend exercised hard enough for both of you.

It is important to realize that while you treat exercise as significant, but not the most significant matter, there will always be more important things. I hope everyone knows exactly what I’m saying.

Meeting with friends? Fine. Start without me. I’m coming after the workout. A friend’s birthday? I’ll be there later. Session in the movie starts? Let’s go to another time.

It might sound harsh at first, but to dig dipper, the goal of the college experience is to prepare yourself for the outside world where without prioritizing and taking on the responsibility, the chance of succeeding decreases tremendously. In that respect, the ability to get the work done before the “playtime” will impact the success in the future.

In the end, why do you think you can’t survive without getting paid, but are so certain that you can settle with a constant discomfort in your own body and nervous breakdowns about it in between? The exercise only takes one to two hours, thus 99 percent of the time the secondary activities can easily be postponed.