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STEELE SPORTS

Importance of uncomfort
By
Johnnie Phillips, Sports Editor
Johnnie Phillips, editor, sports, Steele County Times

One common component of my life since moving on from being an athlete to now being a full-time employee has been managing how to balance my working schedule and my overall health.

My job requires me to be in front of my computer for long periods of time, and also spend a fair amount of time driving to and from events; which has led to some pretty unfavorable changes in my body.

This year alone, I weighed in at my peak at 190 pounds and began to notice that my workout regimen and health, in general, were declining.

Never in my life had I weighed more than 175 pounds until recently, and as someone with a limited understanding of dieting and how to work out, I knew that I had to make some changes to get back on track.

Along with my girlfriend, I decided to make a daily routine to work toward building four new habits.

The habits that we chose to key in on were simple tasks that we knew we could control: red meat intake, taking cold showers instead of warm, limiting alcohol consumption to the bare minimum and working out for at least 45 minutes every morning.

While I cannot claim to be a health guru or anything remotely close to the concept, I have found that these four parts of my routine have brought about an instant change in my health and happiness.

The golden concept behind the change I was looking to make was training my mind to handle discomfort.

I am by no means a morning person and have taken hot showers every day for as far back as I can remember.

Every day I wake up I have to will myself to overcome the discomfort that comes with doing the last things I want to do instead of just sleeping in.

Yet, that is the beauty of the system.

By starting early and challenging myself to overcome the parts of my day that I look forward to the least from the very beginning, I am forcing myself to make a change and train my mind to not allow it to become comfortable and fall victim to the same vicious cycle that has brought me to the point I am at now.

As for red meat and alcohol consumption, these concepts were added to improve dieting skills.

I’m a true carnivore through and through who enjoys nothing more than a good burger and cold beer after a long day of work.

What I’ve found from noticeably reducing my consumption of both is that I am trying more creative meals and expanding my pallet outside of just the comfort foods that I’m used to.

Working out and training your mind are beneficial; however, they can only do so much to help you reach your fullest potential if you’re not giving your body the right fuel.

As someone who lives by the motto “actions speak louder than words,” I will give you a brief update on how things are going.

Headed into the last week of the month, I am now back down to 176 pounds and feeling much better.

I am still a ways away from having this system completely down pat – some days are harder than others – but I believe I’m taking the necessary steps.

I advise those of you reading who are interested in beginning a similar journey to give it a shot.

Seek that discomfort, and make yourself better for having overcome it.

It will be worth it.

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