Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Yeah, I don’t know either. And, it appears there’s a similar debate about whether fitness or resolve comes first… read on.

Make a fist and make a healthier choice? Apparently so, according to an article by Ellen Warren, Chicago Tribune senior correspondent:

Make a fist before picking your dessert. The simple act of tightening a muscle — in your hand, your calf, whatever — can help you make the healthier choice… Firm muscles can firm willpower and increase self-control… Put simply, steely muscles can lead to a steely resolve… Aparna Lapbroo’s study was the first to show that the body, not just the mind, can influence self-control.

Now that’s interesting – at least to me!  And apparently the opposite is true as well – we can use mental imagery to develop physical control:

Mental imagery is just one of the many techniques used in sports training and has been used successfully by many professional athletes in order to help them get certain things under control and ultimately better improve their performances.

— Scott White

Well, heavens knows, I’m in need of lotsa self control:

• Need some to get me back in the walking groove.
• Need some to start doing flexibility exercises.
• Need some to finally get started on strength training.
• Need some, need it now.

…But maybe it could wait until mañana?

Me thinks, however, that I’ll just resolve now that I’m doing all of the above in the morning – I’ll walk me around the block (it’s a loooong block) and then I’ll do 5 minutes of stretching and 5 minutes of simple (very simple) strength building exercises to get started.

Regardless of the weather (which is supposed to be wet and windy) I’m DOING it in the morning without fail.

Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.

— Rene Descartes

And to make sure that it’s a go, starting right now, this evening I’m going to do the following:

• Find my strength training chart (something I put together after reading some famous somebody’s book… can’t remember who it was – was it Jim Loehr or Miriam Nelson or possibly good old Dr. Oz??? Don’t know for sure right now but I’ve got ’til bedtime to suss it out…).
• Review the chart.
• Put it where I can reference it easily from my stretching & strength building place – the one I’m going to clear out right now.
• Get out my poncho (in case of inclement weather).
• Waterproof my shoes.
• And, last but not least, with a place in mind, I’m imagining me doing what I said I would do in the morning: a brisk walk, a short stretch and an even shorter muscles-in-motion effort…
• I’ll build from there…

Mañana’s getting closer by the minute! Can you see me flexing my muscles?

Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you.

— Denis Waitley

So if resolve comes first… and fitness follows, then make that fist. And, for added insurance, whatever you’ve resolved, visualize it now: see it, hear it, smell it, feel it – DO IT! Don’t forget to make that fist!