31 Days to Improve: Make the Most of National Physical Fitness and Sports Month

Hopefully you haven?t spent the last week or so in a recliner huffing Klondike bars. If so, you haven?t quite been living up to the ideals of National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. That?s right, guys. May is much more than everyone?s favorite celebration, National Electrical Safety Month. Just as you shouldn?t jump into the bathtub with a plugged-in toaster, you shouldn?t sit on your ass eating shit all the time.

So it?s already the second week of May. Sorry, I?ve been working out. Besides, like most National Whatever Months, Physical Fitness Month isn?t an ?enjoy it while it lasts? celebration. Its purpose is not to entice Americans to pick up a new physical activity each day (e.g. water polo, competitive skee ball). Its purpose is to remind our out-of-shape, jiggling nation that there?s no better time than now to lace up those running shoes, hop in the pool or, if all else fails, buy that Rack thing as seen on TV.

Fitness!

National Physical Fitness and Sports Month isn?t some new harebrained scheme out of Washington; it?s an old harebrained scheme out of Washington. The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports declared May the month of working out and staying fit in 1983, long before spin class and Zumba were popular (ahh, the good old days.)

Rather than devote another month to eating microwave jalapeno poppers and playing ?Call of Duty: Black Ops,? how about taking stock of your physical fitness? You don?t need to be so into working out you keep a cot and full wardrobe at the gym, but you should be doing some sort of exercise on a daily basis.

I have friends who haven?t worked out in years. These dudes make mall walkers look like god-damn Olympic champions. If you?re like them, reading this article in-between lying on the couch all morning and eating pork rinds in bed all night, you?re practically flipping your body off. In response your body just might retaliate with love handles and/or serious injury/illness.

Use this month to make a positive change in your life through fitness. Exercise noob? Why not sign up for a gym membership and/or start taking daily walks and/or light jogs? Fitness enthusiast? Change up your routine. If you spend most of your time running, start incorporating more strength training.

Push yourself to work out longer and harder during the month of May and you?ll finally be able to thank Washington for a good idea. By the end of the month, you?ll most likely want to keep going and push even harder in June. Once the fitness bug bites, it?s one hell of a sucker to pull out. No couch or recliner can hold you back.

Inspired by National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, today I worked in a new weightlifting movement and pushed myself to run nonstop for longer than usual. Make the most of this month. Gauge your fitness level and work to improve. Oh, and keep the scissors out of those electrical outlets.