One of the things I love about fitness is you can’t slide by on bullshit.

It’s one of those special things in life that you can’t buy, steal, or fake. There aren’t any rewards for complaining or failing, and it doesn’t care about your opinions or feelings.

You have to give something to get something.

It’s called “working out,” after all, and for a good reason. You either do the work, and transform your body, or you don’t.

This is a valuable lesson to learn, I think, because it’s a metaphor for something bigger.

No matter what you’re facing in life, you have two choices: you can put in the work, or get put in your place.

I think that nature smiles at the economic, political, and social institutions that we erect to try to change this rule, and escape its certitude.

Well, let’s not forget that not so long ago, our forebears had to chase, fight, and kill just to survive.

They expected hardship.

They were willing to face the worst.

They embraced the fact that the universe, in all its apparent tranquility, is a carefully balanced chaos of forces that we barely understand.

We, on the other hand, have it easy. And that makes it easy to go soft, to lose perspective, and be lulled into idleness, inertia, and irresponsibility.

I like to think that working out is something of an inoculation against this.

A tribute to the primacy of work.

A reminder that the same power you muster to change your body can also be harnessed to change your life.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!