A Fitness Self-Assessment: Taking Ownership in Your Body and Its Abilities.

Many of us up in the colder climes are thinking of the coming warm months (heck this winter has been bad all over the U.S.) when it'll be time to crawl out of the cave, shake the winter off and get active again. We start planning our trips and we get the equipment ready. But often the most important equipment, our bodies, is overlooked. How many of you actually think about the shape you're in? Have you thought about your body's ability to do what you ask of it? So often I see the answer to this with the injuries that I treat. We take our bodies for granted and go about what we've normally done in the past. Taking a moment though and thinking about your abilities is an important part in staying injury free and enjoying what you do. So as you approach your upcoming endeavors, put as much time (preferably more) into your bodies as you do in planning and in maintaining your gear. We are, our bodies are, snapshots of what we've been doing. The shape we all are in at this very moment, whenever you may be reading this, is an exact reflection of what we've been doing. Think about what you've been doing lately - in the last few days, the last few weeks, the last few months. Now think about what you want to be doing. Hopefully the the past few months are a reflection of what you want to be doing.

Like cars, our bodies require regular maintenance to work right. As car owners, we want to make sure they run well, and last a long time. With cars being the complex machines they are, most of us just take em into the shop and let the mechanic do the work. With our bodies though, we have to be our own mechanics. How many know how to do this maintenance though? Does it take advanced training or a degree in exercise physiology? No, but what it does take is a willingness to take ownership of our bodies and realize that we have full control of the shape we're in. With that ownership in mind though, we do need to learn as much as we can. We need to look at the activities we do and have an understanding of the physical demands those activities impose. Understanding the demands helps shape what we need to do to get ready for it. This site hopefully will serve to spark some thought regarding fitness for not only paddling, but for all your outdoor pursuits.

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