I used to think that health and fitness were one and the same, but my opinion of this has changed over time. Today, with 4 kids in tow, health means something very different to me. Amidst the hustle and bustle of seemingly endless activities and sports, the easiest thing to do sometimes is to go through a drive-thru. I know, it IS terrible, but some days it feels like the only option. Then I watch their behavior deteriorate, or their performance plummets, and I know that I am responsible for that because of my choice to ‘drive-thru.’ I know there are other parents out there in the same predicament, and some even make the same choices I have made. There are others, however, that make more conscious choices and plan better for times like these. I applaud these parents and aspire to behave more like them. For now, progress is keeping some almonds and sunflower seeds with me at all times in order to avoid the dreaded drive-thru. So at this point in my life, I believe that health is directly related to the food I choose to put in my body and the amount of water I consume. As I have transitioned some of these ideas to my kids, I hear complaints sometimes, but I see better behavior and improved performance.
Fitness, on the other hand, is how well my body is equipped to deal with the routine stimulus it is subjected to. The various methods of accomplishing this vary widely based on the stimulus provided. Someone who has a very active job, such as a firefighter, or law enforcement officer, will naturally need to include some weight training, flexibility, and quite a bit of cardiovascular training. For someone sitting at a desk all day and driving back and forth to work, flexibility might wind up at the top of the list, followed by cardiovascular training, and lastly weight training.
In my younger days, I assumed the excessive weight training and limited cardiovascular training qualified me as being fit. The sad truth was that I consumed too much alcohol, sugar, dairy, and grains to really be fit. My health was terrible. I trained very hard in the gym, and I did make gains, but I would have been better served by a healthier diet that allowed my body to repair itself more effectively. Today, I am consuming a much healthier diet that is alleviating my joint pain, increasing my energy, and eliminating unwanted/unneeded body fat. I still enjoy weight training, but now it is tempered with some cardiovascular training, and some flexibility training. Progress, not perfection.