Physical Fitness

This is me in the basement of the gym where I weight train. I love it down there. There is an air of intensity and seriousness in the basement that doesn't exist upstairs. Down there it's easier to have the right mindset to push my limits.

Physical fitness is very important to me. I believe that God has called us to be good stewards of our physical bodies, just as he has called us to be good stewards of our time, talents, money and material possessions. Therefore, I take fitness seriously and strive to do what is best for me physically.

I weight train four days per week for a little more than an hour each time, working each muscle group once per week. My training is very intense, and I always try to increase weights or repetitions. I use barbells, dumbbells and all kinds of machines to get a good variety of exercises for each body part.

I run or ride a bicycle a few times a week for cardiovascular health. Another thing I do was inspired by the U.S. Army's Best Ranger Competition. I really love and respect our military and I guess that results in wanting to emulate them. As part of the competition they have to do a 20 mile road march with a sixty pound rucksack. In honor of that, I shoulder up a forty pound backpack and go for two miles. I know it doesn't really compare, but it's commensurate with my ability.

The way I eat is designed to support my training. I take in 30 grams of lean protein every 2 1/2 to 3 hours and moderate my carbohydrate intake according to my activity level. This makes me very methodical in how I eat and that means that I am consistently eating what my body needs. This results is a good body fat to muscle ratio. I get teased at church sometimes because on Sundays, I always need to eat a protein bar in between Sunday School and the service.

The idol of food  I am always working to  maintain a balance between eating good, nutritionally dense foods and foods that are more enjoyable than nutritious. I have not always had such a commitment to eating well, but have struggled for years with overeating. In my early twenties I was fifty pounds overweight, all due to gluttony with food. I had made food a god to me. I lived to eat and all else was secondary. I also lived in constant shame, because I was  "hiding away" from God like some guilt ridden drug addict getting a "fix". I don't know why I couldn't see that no amount of food could satisfy me in that state and that I didn't enjoy it half as much as when I eat with thankfulness in God's presence.

Love God more than food It has been a long road since then, and God has gradually shown me that the only way to overcome idolizing food is to love him more than food. And he changed me so that I do value him above food.  I have also learned that the power to overcome idolatry of food  comes from God himself. I have spent many, many years trying to overcome my sinful indulgence in food by my own willpower. But my own willpower is in league with my sinful desire and therefore it renders my willpower useless. It took a long time for God to convince me of this since, by my own willpower I used to make progress, but inevitably I always sabotaged that progress by over eating again.

 Galatians 5:16-17 sums this up: "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each another, so that you do not do what you want."

The power of God When I am wholly submitted to God, his Spirit within me will prompt and enable me to do what is good and right. When this is the case, then I am free to enjoy foods of all kinds and not overeat, because I am eating with thankfulness to God. This means that I do what I truly want to; which is to eat nutritionally dense foods to fuel my activity and make me healthy and fit while also enjoying sugary, rich desserts in moderation.

Please contact me if you have any thoughts or questions or if I can support you in any way through conversation and prayer. Feel free also to contact me even if you disagree with me and want to express your beliefs.

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