There are more components to building a life of fitness than you might realize. Obviously, in order to do so, you must be physically able to exercise regularly and take care of yourself. You must have the willpower to avoid certain food cravings or periods of laziness that take you further from your fitness goals. But the concept of reaching fitness longevity runs much deeper than that. It involves three types of intelligence quotient, better known as IQ.
In the world of fitness, the term “IQ” takes on a bit of a different meaning. Most think of it as a numerical score derived from standardized tests to measure intelligence. At WHF, we think of IQ as being a combination of a person’s physical, mental and emotional capacities and drive to become more fit. To us, physical IQ is how fit you are and how bodily able you are to work towards your goals. You can begin at any point on the physical spectrum and progress until you push the boundaries of your physical capabilities. Your body has a limit, but when our trainers work with you we will help you stretch yourself to that threshold, without suffering injury.
Mental IQ refers to how well you know your body – its needs, its abilities, its breaking points. This is an area in which WHF can really help. Through our foundational movement assessment and our study of your injury thresholds, our experts will help you form a knowledge base about yourself. Unfortunately, many people neglect the mental aspect of fitness. To them, it’s just boring and restrictive. It seems like they would rather not know where their bodies’ limits lie. The problem is this sort of attitude leads to injury and/or undesired results. Take the time to learn about yourself and build your mental IQ before, during and after exercising. Always be assessing yourself because the more you know about what you can do, the more efficient you will be in achieving your fitness goals.
We believe the third component of fitness IQ is emotional IQ. Once you start to work with a personal trainer at WHF, you will shed some light on your physical and mental IQs. As we get a feel for what you can and should do to reach your peak, we are going to challenge you to improve every day so that you can achieve optimal wellness and fitness longevity. Emotional IQ relies on you to accept your current situation and to push yourself not to take the easy way out. If you let your emotional IQ guide you, your path to fitness will be difficult but very rewarding in the end.
We recently had a client who was recovering from ankle surgery but was in a hurry to get back into her best shape. Our trainers advised her to stay away from certain exercises that would be especially tough on her recovering ankle, but she was stubborn and continued to do the exercises she felt comfortable with. What she did not realize was that, while she felt more comfortable doing what she had always done, the circumstances dictated that she needed to rehab her injury. Emotional IQ refers to doing what it takes to get where you want to be, even if that means doing exercises you wouldn’t normally do. Our trainers can verbalize this to you, but ultimately you need to be willing to leave your comfort zone and do what is truly best for your body.
All three components of fitness IQ are extremely important to long-term success. You must be strong in each area in order to reach your optimal wellness. Your body alone cannot make you look and feel the way you want. Neither can your mind, your knowledge of yourself, or your willingness to do what it takes to be your best. You need to combine physical, mental and emotional IQ into your daily routine in order to reach your full fitness potential.
At WHF we use our cutting-edge knowledge and expertise to help you go above and beyond your fitness goals.
Written by: Anthony Iati and Christian Zetterberg
