As a strength and conditioning coach and fitness trainer for over twenty years, this is the annual time when I see people recommit to their health by adopting a training program, buying that piece of equipment or joining that class they hope will help them achieve their desired goal, which more often than not is losing excess weight in the form of body fat. As much as this annual moment benefits people like me and our bottom line I’d like to encourage you readers to think about some less common resolutions which may have surprising unintended health benefits.
Though understanding the body and it’s systems in order to get people out of pain, improve their confidence, decrease their chance of injury and achieve a dream even I thought was a long shot has been my passion and profitable, there are many sides to fitness beyond just the physical. We all experience varying degrees of emotional, mental, financial, relational, and other types of fitness. It may surprise you how pivotal some of these are to helping you achieve your physical fitness goals, so let’s meet Jenny.
Jenny was a twenty-something-year-old pre-med student client of mine when I started my business in Scappoose, Oregon. Jenny came to me with the ambitious goal of hiking Mount Hood, which summits at just over 11,000 feet. When I asked her how high she was walking she said she was getting to about 3,000 feet and suffering asthma attacks. We discussed the benefits of a low-sugar, high-water diet to keep her lungs from inflamed when hiking, yet she was already doing as much. So, the next step was to do a cardiovascular fitness test. I chose the three-minute step test for its application to hiking. She scored poorly. So the road to improving her cardio would not be that challenging other than to monitor her heart rate and slowly increase her work volume as her cardio-respiratory system adapted.
We also worked on Jenny’s knock-kneed gait and increased her total body strength, and especially her postural muscles, to carry a 30-40 lb pack up to the tallest peak in Oregon. All systems were go as Jenny reported she was feeling much stronger, more capable, better balance, less sore afterward, and all of the things we’d hoped, except she kept having asthma attacks at relatively low altitudes. I was puzzled, until she told me how upset she was at her parents for raising her in a house where they both smoked. She was visibly upset as she mentioned this. I probed a bit and that’s when I realized she was more than just upset, she was bitter.
One thing Jenny and I shared in common was our shared faith in Jesus. As Christians, we could commiserate about many things, both spiritually and professionally, as we both worked with people who suffered a variety of medical issues. We both looked to the Bible for wisdom on how to deal with any of the many vicissitudes of life, above all, those difficult people who we can’t seem to get out of our lives even if we want to. It could be a boss, brother, or spouse who, for whatever reason, has pushed all of our buttons to the point of feeling nuclear-level anger inside when we think about them. For Jenny, it was her parents.
As I thought about her situation, I was reminded of the Bible passage that cautions us not to let the root of bitterness grow in our hearts.
“See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.” (Hebrews 12:15)
The implication is that a root buries deep, and, spiritually speaking, it becomes systemic as the roots run deeper and spread farther as natural roots would the more they are watered and nourished. The difference being a root of spiritual bitterness is watered and nourished by anger and resentment.
So what can be done about it?
God being good enough to diagnose the problem also offers a cure.
Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other the same as God forgave you through Christ. (Ephesians 4:32)
But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:15)
So, as her older brother in the faith, I confronted her about it. I explained what I believed had been revealed to me, namely that she was holding on to her asthma as strongly as she was holding on to her bitterness toward her parents. She didn’t seem so sure, so I explained it using those scriptures. We left it at that.
A few months later, it was Jenny’s big day to tackle Mount Hood, and I had not only forgotten about it that weekend, but I’d also forgotten about reminding her to apply the spiritual advice we’d discussed.
As I walked out of the doors of the Fred Meyer in Scappoose I could see Mount Hood in the distance when it dawned on me – I wonder if she made it. Walking to my car, I looked at my phone and noticed I had a voicemail. It was from Jenny. I don’t recall it word for word, but as she breathed heavily into the phone, she exclaimed, “Aaron – I did it! You were right, I started to have an attack at about 7,000 feet, and I forgave them, and I did it! I made it to the top!”
It still gets me choked up to this day.
So, if you’re still in the market for a New Year’s resolution this year, consider letting go of some of that dead weight that bogs you down emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and even physically. Who do you need to forgive? How long have you been holding on to it? Maybe take a moment to consider all that you need to be forgiven, thank God that He’s willing to do as much for you, and then pay it forward.
I promise you will not regret it.
