Appreciating What Your Body Can Actually Do
In the world of fitness, it’s easy to get caught up in the numbers—how much you weigh, how many reps you can do, or how fast you can run a mile. While these can be motivating, they can also often overshadow something much more important: appreciating what your body can actually do.
Your body is an incredible machine, no engineer could come close to replicating it, it is capable of far more than just fitting into a certain size or hitting a target weight. Maybe it’s time for a lot of people to shift their focus from what their bodies look like to what they can achieve, and start appreciating the amazing things our bodies can do.
- Strength and Power
Think about the strength your body has. Whether it’s lifting weights, carrying the shopping in, or picking up your kids, your muscles work tirelessly to support you every day, moving around daily takes a lot of work and effort from your body. Strength isn’t just about how much you can bench press—it’s about being able to move through life confidently and independently.
- Endurance and Resilience
Your body’s endurance is nothing short of remarkable. Every time you go for a run, swim, cycle, or even take a long walk, your heart and lungs are working in perfect harmony to keep you going. Think of the things your body does daily without you even thinking about it. The fact that you can recover from a tough workout or bounce back from an illness shows how resilient you really are.
- Flexibility and Mobility
Being able to reach, bend, twist, and stretch are all abilities that we often take for granted. This is something I really push on to people, no matter what you’re training like you need to bloody stretch. Flexibility and mobility are what allow you to perform everyday tasks with ease, from tying your shoes to picking up that fiver you found on the floor. These movements show us how adaptable our bodies can be.
- Balance and Coordination
Balance and coordination are key elements of almost everything you do. Whether you’re going for a walk, dancing in your living room as if no one is watching, or just standing, your body is constantly working to keep you steady and controlled. This ability to balance, both physically and mentally, is something you should continue to work on and appreciate as you get older. This then brings me to a question, what is the age where it goes from falling over to having a fall?
- Healing and Recovery
One of the most amazing things about your body is its ability to heal itself. When you get a cut, a bruise, or an injury, your body immediately goes to work, repairing and regenerating. This natural capacity for healing is a reminder that your body’s natural instinct is to survive and it will do what it needs to do to keep you alive. It’s just bloody amazing really.
- Adaptation and Growth
Your body is built to adapt. We will talk about exercise on this one but it is the same with everything, when you start a new exercise routine, your body doesn’t just stay the same—it grows stronger, more efficient, and more capable over time. This is why we change stuff up. This adaptability is a core part of our evolution and a reminder we are designed to improve and overcome challenges.
- Mind-Body Connection
This is a big one, never underestimate the power of the mind-body connection. Your ability to focus (sometimes a lot harder than others), meditate(being present), and control your breathing are all reflections of how your mental and physical health all come together. This connection allows you to manage stress, enhance performance, and achieve a deeper sense of being bloody brilliant.
Celebrate What Your Body Can Do
Instead of criticizing your body for what it isn’t, start celebrating it for what it is and what it can do. I mean look at it, if you’re a woman out there, your body does so much, a lot of you can grow a human inside you and squeeze it out of you, that in itself is fucking brilliant. But every rep, every step is a victory. Every breath you take, every beat of your heart, is your body doing its job—day in and day out—without asking for anything in return.
So maybe we should start being kinder to this fucking brilliant machine we have and start to treat it well, imagine what it could do if we did.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others but remember that everyone’s body is different. Your journey is unique, and so are your abilities. Take a moment to appreciate the fact that your body is capable of so much and that it supports you in every aspect of your life.
At the end of the day, your body isn’t just a vessel—it’s a powerful, resilient, and dynamic part of who you are. Or as something I saw on the old internet, we are not a body, we are brains using a skeleton to move surrounded by meat armour.
So maybe we need to take a moment to appreciate our bodies for everything they can do. Embrace your strength, your endurance, your flexibility, and your power.
Because when you do that, you start to appreciate how fucking brilliant you really are.
