Why should I care?

Personally, I love working out and fitness, and I think that it has part to play in why I’ve been successful in my career. Keeping the body fit helps keep the mind clear and able which is key to learning all the new technologies that are coming to the market, thus keeping myself relevant.

I’ve been overweight myself and both mentally and emotionally I remember being drained, unfocused and ultimately lethargic in my personal and professional life. That kept me in a bad place until one day, I decided that I was going to lose weight and get my life together. That was one of the best choices I’ve ever made.

That was about 2007, after that I kept working in IT and eventually started Crossfit. I did that for quite some time until I decided to become Crossfit Level 1 certified and spent almost 2 years coaching at Crossfit Polaris and Crossfit Westerville. Both were fantastic operations, and I’m lucky to have had such a great opportunity to belong to a group of people that were so great.

Whew! I just went very quickly through 10 years of my fitness history. There’s a lot more to that, from doing clean and jerks in my front yard and damaging the grass to hitting myself in the head with a barbell, but that’s not the point of this quick post.

Balance

You’ve got to be able to balance the body and mind or the home and work life. It’s all about balance and fitness was my avenue to finding balance in my life. The best phrase that I’ve heard in regards to this:

I workout to live, I don’t live to workout.

So to answer the title of the post, why? Well, fitness is a big part of my life. Such a big part that I feel it bleeds into my professional life, just as my work in IT bleeds over into my personal life with my love of gadgets and gizmos. I’ve found my balance and I want to share how I got there and the continued journey into that balance. Hopefully you’re going to come along with me.

Matt Hoyt is a current IT Architect in Columbus, OH. All thoughts displayed here are his and his alone.