If Only Fitness was as Easy as Confession

I've been CrossFitting off an on since early 2010.  The problem is--I've been off more than on.   Ohhh, I've had good bouts.   I did really well that first year.  Then in 2012 I also did really well.  I logged nearly 200 workouts.  Really started watching my nutrition and I lost over forty pounds and was down to 190 pounds.   I was starting to look good.   I was losing my spare tire.  My performance in the gym was improving and I was reaching goals.

And then came 2013 came along.  I've only logged 75 workouts.   Which doesn't sound bad but in reality---it's pretty bad.  Worst of all---my nutrition has gone to pot and I ate like crap.  All the gains that I made in 2012 are gone and at the beginning of December I was back up to my original weight.  It was very depressing looking at my logs--especially my weight logs.   Those are the ones that contained selfies of myself in front of the bathroom mirror without a shirt.  There was a whole lot of me in the picture taken December 1, 2013 compared to the one of me taken on September 30th of last year.

So, I've been making it to academy to work out.  I've been better about my nutrition although it's been difficult cutting back on the sugars this time of year.   I have cut down to one Diet Coke a day though.   I may even join an actual CrossFit gym.  I'm very frustrated at myself though.  How far would I be if I had continued last years pace.  How fit and healthy would I be now.  How many goals would I have made and surpassed.

It makes me think---I wish there was something in my fitness world like there is in my spiritual world.   When I get lackadaisical in my spiritual life, I can always go to confession and be restored and placed back on the correct path.  When I come out of confession, I am pumped up and ready to go.  I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted off of me.   Those first couple days in the gym after missing a month or so are brutal.   It feels like a barbell has been dropped on your head and you just want to go get a Big Mac and forget about the next day's workout.

That's not to say that you are back to the same spiritual level that you were.   There is still damage there to your relationship caused by our sin.   There is still penance to be done.  You still have a responsibility to continue with that relationship that God has just repaired for you but the grace you are given in that confessional goes a long way to helping you.

I'm not the only one wishing there was something like confession in the fitness world--although people may not realize it.  Everyone is looking for that fitness shortcut that fixes you right up and instantly makes you fit.  There is everything from the Thighmaster or the Shakeweight to liposuction.  Confession has them all beat.