At one time, I ran a blog called Fitterverse: A universe of fitness. This post originally appeared there. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I’ve been able to recapture the text. I’ve published them here on their original publication dates.
I was sitting at a stop light near my gym this morning after my workout, and noticed in the next lane a young man who I had just seen working out there, a guy in his 20s, if I had to guess. And what struck me was this – he was smoking.
I wanted to jump out of the car, grab him, and shake him. What the hell did he think he was doing? In the gym he had struck me as being in good shape. Pretty cut, well-built, lifting pretty heavy. Why dilute that with cigarettes?
Which got me thinking about all the things I should have done at his age. I should have started lifting when I was a teen, not in my forties. I’d be much closer to having the body I want. I should have never started drinking, rather than quitting a couple months ago. The money and bullshit I’d have saved would likely make my life completely different. I never should have smoked.
Young people will always do what they want, and telling them not to do things only increases the likelihood that they will. But how do we encourage them to start good health habits in the beginning? I don’t know the answer, I only know the regrets.