Fight for your Life

  I went into month five swinging. I was feeling good and was very proud of all the progress I had made. My proudest progression was with the heavy bag. That first day hitting the bag weighed heavier on my shoulders than the bag itself. I now regularly ended my workouts with 3 - 3 minute rounds. I would occasionally do 5 rounds. Believe me I don’t just dance around tapping the bag, I go all in as if a championship belt is at stake. Whatever I have left in me after working out gets left on that bag. 

 The thought had definitely crossed my mind that to lose the same 17.5 pounds I had lost so far, some people shell out hundreds even thousands of dollars to do the same. Not only had I only spent a few hundred, I had a nice little home gym to show for it. Eating better contrary to what most people think isn’t more expensive than eating unhealthy. I wasn’t going for anything marketed as healthy. I was more going for natural, fruits and vegetables and I was saving money to be honest. Even if you do find it to be more expensive I came across this saying “you either pay now, or you’ll pay later” which is very true. You are better off paying more for healthy food now and getting healthy, than paying for hefty medical bills later when you develop health issues because if you are eating unhealthy it’s not a matter of if, it’s more a matter of when. I wasn’t desperate and I wasn’t in hurry so I was being as smart as I possibly could about this journey and eating healthier was definitely a smart decision as was taking my time to form healthy habits and not follow trends.

 Hospital pictures of people I knew and still know which partly motivated me to do what I am doing were still flooding my timeline on facebook and Instagram. It was a constant reminder that I didn’t want to end up in such a position; not if I could help it. So yea when I hit that heavy bag, I feel as though I am fighting for my life because in truth, I am. I already had serious health issues and I most definitely didn’t want to add anymore to the list. I was also setting an example for my kids.

 Fighting for your life, a longer life, a healthier life and just an overall better life not only benefits you, it benefits everyone around you. There’s only one thing worse than seeing someone you know, or someone you love dearly giving up and letting themselves go. That is seeing the choices made by those individuals effect all those around them. It’s bad enough someone eats themselves to poor health without passing it down to their children. It’s so unfair and unnecessary. I seen someone I know post pictures of their child that is most definitely obese eating piles of junk. I remember one photo where their child was drinking a gallon slushy. That slushy probably contained a years worth of sugar. I thought that to be a form of child abuse. Then they post every other day about their child being ill, taking him to emergency room, picking him up from school due to feeling sick but they never wonder why? Poor eating habits create illnesses. Nothing in life is easy, you gotta fight for it and being healthy is no acceptation. 

 We all indeed gotta go sometime but I will be damned if I don’t go out swinging, literally. I feel fortunate I found a number of exercises I really enjoy doing daily and hitting that heavy bag is definitely my favorite. It enhances aerobic fitness, core stability, coordination, power, stamina, and endurance. It also improves upper-body strength and strengthens bones and ligaments. You enhance boxing technique which increases your self-defense skills. You also get bonuses of reducing anxiety and stress, improving you self-esteem, confidence, and body image. All for a hundred bucks or less. You can’t beat that, or, well…you can. Thank you for reading.