|
A Steady Pulse - Site
Visions and Philosophy 2004
by
Ron
Its happening. Life
has been breathed into BT. From its first breath early this year, to
a strong 'pulse' now, the creature awakens and flexes its muscles. BT is well on its way to revolutionize how people
fit health into their lifestyles. Sure, I have some pretty lofty
goals for the future of this site. The ultimate is to have
billboards in every major city to the tune of: 'BeginnerTriathlete.com -
It's Your Life, Make the Most of it.'...or something like that. And
how about future plans to sponsor conventions to get people into the
sport? Now that's a tall order! Believe in the site.
You have each seen the dedication EVERYONE has for it...NEVER static,
always new content, new changes, new articles, new training logs that are always
getting better. I am in the pursuit of more 'technical' content to quench
your insatiable appetites for knowledge. SOON, I feel it is time to
publish twice a month! WOW...your keeping us busy! :) BT will soon be your
'total' source for info, training, news, training logs that are fun BUT
will have ALL the functionality for you in one place...I have lots of
plans for future upgrades, additions (many based on your awesome feedback)
and a easy to use advanced nutrition calculator/logging system that will
rival the other stand-alones. Sure, this will take a year or two but
you ALL have shown this site your support and have emboldened me to ensure
progress gets made at a steady clip.
My philosophy from BT's
inception has been to get the average person with little to no prior
athletic experience into a healthy, more happy lifestyle. My focus
is consistently delivering super-charged motivational content and
easy-to-read beginner articles and more technical content. I definitely
have a strong desire get BT's word out to the masses.
Our healthcare in the US,
and other nations is becoming out of control. We are popping so many
pills, trying so many fad diets and untested herbal supplements from
who-knows-where that promise everything and then some. With the baby
boomers retiring soon, their will be a crisis on our hands. I will
be one of the generations funding this balloon in healthcare spending to
pay for people such as my parents as they try to get as much as they can
out of retirement. Where is this money going to come from?
MY social security? Increased taxes? OR is the current system going
to crash? I don't know about you but I like to keep my hard-earned
money...I don't want to shell it out to someone else.
How did it get this way?
Why are we so unhealthy?
- Transportation
- Busy Lifestyle (No
time to take care of #1)
- Fast Food
- Soft-Drink/Snack-Food
Industry and the bombardment of their advertising campaigns.
-
Television/Entertainment
- Being Desk Jockeys
Now, I am definitely not
against items 1 - 6, like you, I enjoy many of them, BUT one must balance
all of these things out with some kind of physical activity as a
countermeasure.
Being healthy and fit is not
about genetics or good breeding...it's about you and how you react to your
environment. Environment plays roughly a 70% role in who you are.
All too frequently we succumb to these outside pressures...hey...it's
easy! We definitely do not have the foresight to think ahead about
how our life is going to be past 40. We live in the present.
If we even HAPPEN to entertain the thoughts of 'What's going to happen to
me later in life if I maintain my current poor habits and inactivity?'...we
usually will just answer with ' I will deal with them then.'
IT WILL BE TOO LATE! Its not easy to reverse the cumulative effects
from decades of poor nutrition and inactivity.
I don't know about you but I
want to be healthy and independent into my 90's. I want to be able
to play with my kids and grandkids in my later years. I don't want
to be a burden to my family when I get older and am unable to take care of
myself due to a lifestyle of inactivity and bad diet which would have been
mostly preventable. Taking care of 'sickly' parents before their time is a
huge burden on a family and I do not wish that burden on my kids or anyone
for that matter as it is already happening to my in-laws. Lots and
lots of smoking and inactivity has been the big instigator. They are
on an obscene amount of medicine. Furthermore, I do not want
to go into assisted living or a nursing home...I want to 'pass' in my own
bed in my own home with my own independence.
NOW you probably think this
is an abnormal thought...you see it everywhere...nursing home and assisted
living centers. One must think its part of the 'normal chain of
events.' No! One of my grandmothers played 18 holes of golf EVERY
day into her early 90's while ALWAYS walking and carrying her own
clubs...she lived comfortably in her own home till about 93 until she gave
up her mortal coil. What an inspiration!
Nowadays its pretty much
normal to have heart-attacks and bypasses in your 40's and 50's...those
hardened arteries and weak circulatory system....preventable. BUT
its great for the enormous healthcare industry. That's their money
makers and they thank you. Nobody want to spend money on prevention
campaigns...'prevention' seems so...well...boring and not radical enough.
I can go on and on citing
examples of preventable diseases through decent diet and exercise. I
would care to wager that if everyone had to train for a sprint
triathlon, healthcare would be a fraction of its size and we would no
longer would have to pay the majority or our health insurance on people
who didn't have the foresight to better take care of themselves. Insurance would go instead toward the people
with genetic diseases, accidents and the routine checkups to other
miscellany....which are now only a fraction of total healthcare.
Billions could be spent elsewhere.
LETS CHANGE THIS!!!!
Lets give people the 'oomph' and motivation to change their lives for the
better! I am convinced that this is the best sport for overall
health. Lets take at least 3-5 hours out of our week to adopt a
healthier, happier lifestyle. Three to five hours? That's not
much if you really sit down and think about it. Three to five
hours...the BEST investment you will EVER make. The returns are
priceless.
Your Homework:
Know of a few people that
mean a lot to you in your life and you would love to see them make a few
healthy changes to their life? Send them to beginnertriathlete.com
or just print out some of the 'heart-warming' and motivational stories
about how others went up against the odds and turned their life around.
Don't push them as when people have no current momentum, it is very hard
to establish inertia. It is very difficult to get somebody moving
when they are stopped. BUT drop hints every once in a while, be a
great role-model, invite them to your races, have them go walking or
biking with you regularly - at their own pace, have them be around others
like you who have similar life-changing stories to hear AND BEFORE YOU
KNOW IT, that seed you planted in their mind will start to germinate and
grow...remember...it must be their idea in order to embrace it.
Example: If I know my son is hungry and needs a bottle, he WILL NOT
take it UNLESS I present it to him in a such a way that makes it like it
was his idea first...then he drinks up ravenously.
Best of luck in training and
racing for 2004!!!! YEAHHHHH......BT! |
