Building a healthy body is not dissimilar to building a business. Both require forethought, commitment, the right partners, and a longterm strategy.

If you were running a business, could you operate successfully without a plan, a strategy, or defined goals? Or would you eventually go out of business? Having a desire to make money would not be enough to sustain you. Many hungry business owners go out of business every year.

The daily routine of an average gym member involves taking classes, doing some cardio, lifting some weights, stretching, watching TV, then off to work or home. This is no different than the aforementioned example. Adopting a “healthy” ritual is NOT a training plan.

A Training Plan requires structure.
It requires goals.
It requires a measure.

To measure growth, a business must look to its economic analysis. 
People make plenty of excuses to disguise their shortcomings, but numbers do not lie.

A business that sees profits run flat year after year is in trouble. Even if the company is making the same returns, your running costs, inflation and the cost of living is still rising. The enterprise will inevitably cease to become competitive. A savvy entrepreneur must address the flaws in the the business plan.

Likewise, the same workout conducted over a lifetime will not remain effective. Time and gravity cannot be ignored.

Do you want to trend upward?
To be blunt, if you are not getting better, you are getting worse. A person who exercises with a short-term outlook will also see diminishing returns over time. Program your routines or have a business plan. Switching activities after your returns have run flat is no different then launching a new business because your old one failed. You want to build strength upon strength.

When a business experience good returns, a good business person keeps reinvesting the profits back into the business, lest you miss the window.
All growing businesses know to reinvest the profits back into the enterprise. Otherwise, innovation stops, the staff becomes lethargic, customer loyalty dwindles and the well runs dry.

Likewise, the perfect time to formulate a training plan is when you are at your healthiest.
There is always room for improvement. If you are NOT balancing aerobic exercise, and strength training with skill acquisition both mind and body deteriorate more quickly. Even healthy, high performing athletes have imbalances that need addressing.  Only PERFECT practice makes perfect.

It is not ideal to wait until you are injured, overweight, depressed, mandated by a physician, and/or in pain to embrace training. Fitness solutions do not heal medical problems.

“Lifelong training almost eliminated the steady decline of strength and muscle mass after 40.”

What is your vision for the next twelve months, two years, five years, ten years, etc.?
Imagine bringing your hopes and dreams alone, without any tangible evidence of future revenue, to a stockholders meeting. This is what it looks to go to the gym training only to be “healthy.” The difference is, in the boardroom, you will be called out. Time is money.

Longevity and prevention begins with EXERCISING CONSCIOUSLY.
If you are NOT seeing continual & measured improvement in your chosen activities, trust you are not improving. When you plateau, you are burning less calories in the same period than you were initially. You may want to be equally attentive to your form. Repetitive stress injuries do not occur overnight.

Think of a personal trainer, or a coach, as your personal business consultant.
Invest in yourself. Hire a person who comes in and does outside analysis of how your business is operating. (S)he can strategize with you to form a plan. Because there are set benchmarks, this process is not open-ended. Most importantly, you will have someone to celebrate with you when you reach your milestones.

If your business doesn’t have a plan, you probably don’t have a business.
The only way to know if your actions are causing the desired effect is to keep a record. You need to assess what is working and what is not working objectively. It is impossible refine a plan that you can not track. People who do not know the who, what, when or why of their actions always end up on the disabled list.

In life, as in business, there are no guarantees, only choices. Are you ready to take you body as seriously as your chosen occupation? When you are at your fittest, you have so many more options available to you. The major difference between your body and your job is you can always get a new job.
- Erwin

P.S. I am a certified Functional Movement Screen (FMS) practitioner. It is a test that assesses whether any person is likely to be injured or fit to train. It is one of the primary foundation of the KINETIC Sculpt® program. Below is a YouTube video of a FMS screen.  Perform this self-assessment and see how you fair. If any of the things I shared resonate, start a program, like KS OUTSIDE, craft a goal, and create a life training plan, and begin making in-roads into your future.