The Everyday Athlete’s Manifesto: Leveraging Fitness for Maximum Health Span

Everyday athlete
/ˈɛvrɪdeɪ,ɛvrɪˈdeɪ /ˈaθliːt/

A person who prioritizes a healthy, and physically active lifestyle in order to live life to the fullest.

The Everyday Athlete Philosophy

In the U.S. and U.K., approximately 60% of all adults aged 18- 64 are considered completely sedentary. They do no intended exercise, have completely inactive jobs, and spend more than 14 hours each day sitting on various types of chairs (couches, office chairs, car seats, etc.).

According to World Health Organization statistics, a further 20% of all adults do a little bit of daily movement but not enough to maintain health. Let’s take a moment to reflect on this statistic.

This means that 80% of the U.S. and U.K. adult population DO NOT do enough daily activity to maintain health.

80 PERCENT.

It’s a statistic that astounds me every time I hear and see it. That leaves the remaining 20% of adults who regularly exercise to an adequate degree. But what does adequate mean?

This differs slightly from one government organization to another but, generally, it’s considered 30 minutes of brisk walking or jogging per day and some regular resistance training to help with strength and bone density.

I would strongly argue that this IS NOT adequate exercise and would question this from a professional standpoint, but it is a great place to start.

My personal and professional experience would guesstimate that less than 10% of the U.K. and U.S. adult population are doing adequate exercise to maintain optimal health, which is sad to me. Truly sad.

To me, that means that less than 10 percent of the adult population can physically enjoy everything life has to offer. Less than 10 percent of the adult population partakes in what they are able to do whenever however they want.

In my humble opinion, this needs to change. As a collective group of everyday athletes, we have a responsibility to encourage others to step up to join our humble society.

To grow the 10 percent.

The Everyday Athlete Lifestyle

An everyday athlete is someone who prioritizes a healthy and physically active lifestyle in order to live life to the fullest. Everyday athletes make the most of what they have, and they never settle for less than the life they are capable of living.

It means being truly alive and awake – not asleep in some waiting room or on the couch.

Physical activity is part of the everyday athlete’s DNA. It’s not something they think that they MUST do, but rather a part of their day-to-day life. It makes them who they are. It defines them.

As everyday athletes, we continually reach out for newer, richer, and deeper experiences. It’s using those experiences as a means for personal growth and pushing our boundaries mentally, physically, and intellectually for the betterment of ourselves, our family, and the world at large.

Everyday athletes take an active role in our personal development. We are behind the wheel of our life, taking advantage of our unique and powerful potential as a person.

We do things in life that motivate and inspire others to do something motivating and inspiring in theirs. We maximize our capacity to experience what life has to offer around us. This, in turn, expands our consciousness and results in an even broader range of life experiences.

The key to life as an everyday athlete is to open your mind and stretch beyond your comfort zone. If you’re not being challenged or intentionally pushing yourself beyond the realm of things that are familiar, then the experiences you’re having are no longer changing you.

Anything that limits your ability to experience the breadth of life reduces your ability to live life to the fullest. If the point of living life is to maximize your capacity for taking advantage of what life has to offer, then this involves maximizing the length of your life as well.

The Everyday Athlete Mindset

Everyday athletes are not limited to the confines of a gym. They see the gym as a tool for maximizing life’s experiences. They live for being outside the gym, just as much as they are inside it.

Everyday athletes are not bound to any one tool, activity, or methodology. They believe in fundamental principles for health.

From strength training to running, biking to skiing, team sports to individual events, everyday athletes embrace it all. They prepare for anything life could throw their way. They welcome the challenge.

Everyday athletes look beyond the hype and hyperbole of the fitness industry. They seek substance. They seek the truth. They seek clarity.

Everyday athletes pursue performance but not at the sacrifice of longevity.

Everyday athletes know they’re in it for the long haul. Health comes first. No short cuts, no quick fixes.

Everyday athletes work hard, knowing they will reap the rewards in the long run.

While living life to the fullest, everyday athletes collect experiences. They don’t simply believe
in knocking items off a bucket list. It isn’t a competition to do the most things before death.

For everyday athletes, it is about acquiring strength and wisdom from the challenges they overcome and having encounters that alter how they perceive the world.

They draw from these experiences to lift others and help them raise their standards so they, too, can join the humble society of everyday athletes.

As an everyday athlete, you must make a habit of always reaching for new experiences that push you to grow and use your growth to have a positive influence on others.

That is living life to the fullest, and that is the ethos that binds us together.

The Everyday Athlete Code

Because life’s better as an everyday athlete. 

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