Working Out is a Way of Life .

There's a guy I follow on YouTube named Elliot Hulse and his channel is called "strengthcamp." I've been watching his videos for everything under the sun from types of lifts to explanations of routines and eating habits, nutrition and more. The guy is huge and really knows his stuff about everything from muscular construction to all the physiological and psychological aspects of working out. As I saw today in one of the comments, why would you ever pay for any sort of workout information when you have everything you need right here? His videos have been a huge help.

Most of his videos are responses to questions. People send in questions about various things related to their workouts and he'll answer them. One I watched a few weeks ago was a kid who wrote in saying that he'd been working out for about a month, and wanted to know when he would see results. Now, anyone who has started lifting and has been lifting for awhile knows that you're not going to see any noticeable difference for at least a year. It may even be more.

But more importantly, workout out is not just about the visual aspects that will change about you. If that's all it was about, you could take drugs and just look the part. But you want these changes to be functional, you want to be able to actually use the muscles that you work to develop, and you want it to be so much more than just changing how you look. Working out and all that it entails, from heavy weights to cardio to nutrition; it becomes a lifestyle. I was just on vacation for five days and didn't do much in terms of physical health apart from foam rolling, and honestly I feel like a blob. If you don't do stuff, if you don't regularly feel those burns you feel like shit.

It's amazing when I go through a day and I can tell when I don't have enough water, or when I don't get enough sleep, or if I ate foods with too much grease. In the same way that when I walk around the building I know it so well that I can just listen for certain things and know if something is up, I am equally as attuned to the goings on of my body. I love being able to tweak things as if I am a well-oiled machine, and it's nice to feel like you are truly in control of what's going on. There are always things that I could improve, but I like that too -- that you can never really be good enough. There is always room to be better; there is always a way to push yourself harder.

Yes, perhaps I started workout out because I wanted to change the way I looked. But what it turned into was a body that I can functionally use, and that will help propel me to a longer, fuller life. I don't want to grow old and have a body that is going to fall apart on me. Life is too precious to miss out on even a minute because I am stuck in a wheelchair or have legs that can't support me anymore. Age will happen, but staying healthy in all aspects of life will help so much.

So that's it. Being fit, physically active, health-conscious; it has all become my way of life. I'm obsessed, addicted; I can't get enough. And actually I'm really happy and proud of myself for getting to that point. Now it's just a matter of always sticking with it and always remembering all the work it took for me to get there.