Category: Fitness

Health and well-being?

August 3, 2023

What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

This is an interesting question as the WordPress prompt today. I have a health and well-being routine that I have followed for many years.

1. Devotions – I start my days, or at least in the first hour, with prayer, Bible reading and a devotional like Our Daily Bread. This keeps me in tune with God.

2. Exercise – I exercise six days a week in a combination of weights and cycling. This helps me to keep trim and fit and also gives me a lot of enjoyment and relaxation.

3. Work – I make sure I work less days than I have days off. I work three days a week now and have four days off. I find as I get older this helps me to feel well and more rested.

4. Family – I find spending time at home with my family helps me to relax and wind down. My wife and I talk a lot and I really enjoy time with our kids and their partners too.

5. Alone – As someone who is quite introverted I need my alone time too. I talk and listen a lot as a part of my job, so I get full easily and time alone helps me to order my thoughts and chill out.

These are my current things that help my health and well-being. They have remained fairly constant over the years with some slight changes. I guess for me it is a case of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Favourite thing about myself

June 21, 2023

What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

Today’s WordPress question is an interesting one. The favourite thing about yourself.

To be honest this is not something I usually think about. But if I am pressed I would have to say my discipline in exercise.

I have trained six days a week for all of my adult life. That is is 38 years and counting. I started a gym program when I turned 18 and have stuck to it ever since.

My base program has revolves around three days of full body weights in my gym. The other three days are riding an exercise bike or going for a ride.

On top of this I play all types of sport with the kids at schools where I am Chaplain and on my days off I might go for a walk up our rock that overlooks our town.

Last Sunday I finished a 42 day fitness challenge for my work where we recorded all of our exercises. I did 4000 minutes in the 42 days. That is a bit over 95 minutes a day.

So what do I like most about myself. I would have to say my discipline in exercise.

Miracle movie inspires me

May 11, 2023

I just watched one of my favourite movies again – Miracle. No it is not about a miracle in the God’s Kingdom sense, but in a sport sense.

Miracle is a 2004 American sports film about the United States men’s ice hockey team, led by head coach Herb Brooks, portrayed by Kurt Russell, who won the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics.

There are a number of things in this movie I find inspiring.

  • The way the coach brings the team together and the different psychological tactics he uses.
  • How the coach did not just picked the best players, but the team he thought could win the gold medal. He wanted the right players.
  • How a team of young amateur players from very different backgrounds became a “family” and played for the name on the front of the jumper, not the back.
  • The way they all pushed themselves to get the absolute best out of themselves. As someone who skated the lines, I know how hard that can be. Look out for “again”.
  • And of course that they won. They beat the invincible Soviet team who had won gold at the previous five Olympics.

The thing that inspires me in this movie is not so much the end result of the gold medal, but the daily hard work, the struggles and the bonding the team does. It is more about the journey than the goal.

I am not sure how many times I have watched Miracle, but each time I get inspired. If you are interested you can find it on Disney.

A life of hope

November 20, 2022

I like this insight from today’s Our Daily Bread…

First Peter 3:15 is often presented as a challenge to be prepared for opportunities to share one’s faith: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

But sharing our faith might be the secondary aspect. First, we’re to live a life of hope in a world that is largely hopeless. Notice that Peter said that people will ask about the hope we have. As we live hope-filled lives in this broken world, those around us will see the difference. Then we’re to be ready to answer them about the hope that marks our lives.

Our hope distinguishes believers in Jesus from those without Christ, whom Paul described as “without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). He is our hope, and we’re challenged to live like it.

Food as medicine

October 27, 2022

It has been a while since I have posted in my fitness category, so I thought I would include this video about healthy eating. Much of what is said lines up with God’s Words in Genesis 1:29 NLT – Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.