Some of you may be wondering why I have such a silly title to this blog. Aren't these two the same thing? No, they are not, and I plan on explaining why I feel this way.
Anybody who exercises or stays fit with physical activity is doing 'fitness'. Fitness is usually (not always) geared towards feeling better, looking better, being healthier, etc. It is the main category of physical fitness that most people fall into.
The one downside to fitness - in my opinion - is that it is less goal-oriented and focused as 'Training' is. Allow me to explain.
I use physical fitness all the time! I enjoy staying active, lifting weights, doing cardiovascular exercise, going for walks, going for hikes, playing with my nieces, etc. The times of the year when I am focusing more on 'Fitness' and less on 'Training' is fine, but I am often not as concerned with any specific goal.
Sure, as I said before, some people may use physical activity to try and change the way they look or how they feel and just overall get 'in shape', but it is the times of year when I start to 'Train' when I feel fully alive.
Training is used for those times when you are specifically asking of extreme demands out of your body to improve for a certain competition or sport. Athletes know all about training. It is used to improve skills, or performance so that you can become better at something.
So how is this different than overall fitness? Growing up, I was always active with sports such as competitive hockey and soccer. Training wasn't necessarily something I thought about as much as I do now, simply because I participated in events for fun, but looking back on how I acted/felt, I can see now how truly different things were.
I find my entire mood changes when I am training for performance. I begin to get that 'hunger' or 'drive' during my training sessions to push myself that much further. To push my body to the brink of what it is capable of doing, and then wake up the very next morning and be ready to do it all over again with the same desire.
You do not necessarily have to be training for a sport or competition to get these feelings, however, but I find it certainly helps. Knowing that every action or exercise I do is moving me closer to my goal is an invigorating experience.
Over the past several weeks of my Warrior Training, I have been using physical fitness to get in overall shape. Sure, I was training towards a specific goal, but I was further from my goal dates, so my training was more about getting in overall great shape to lead up to my performance training.
That takes me to today. Day 1 of my Performance Phase was this morning and man oh man did I feel alive! I know that I have less than 5 weeks now until my first competition that I am training for (Warrior Dash) so I could definitely feel my attitude and energy levels pick up a notch or two!
As I said, you do not necessarily need a specific event or competition to train for. But I highly recommend spending a few weeks, maybe a couple times a year, focusing on one specific goal, and attacking that son of a bitch. It is a truly amazing feeling!
Quote of the day:
"A successful man continues to look for work after he has found a job."
~ Author Unknown
~ Author Unknown
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