BOOK REVIEW: Living the Good Life. Health and success for you – for Canada
First of all thank you Emily and Kadri-Liis for the book that you brought from the fitness fair in Cologne. I hope you were also inspired by the presentation of David Patchell-Evans.
For all others, since I also knew nothing about the guy, he has built up the biggest and strongest network of fitness clubs in Canada – Good Life. The book describes his mission and ideas that have been successfully transferred to his business as well.
He has had quite tough times in his life. He suffered a very bad motorcycle accident at the age of 19 and still came out of this and became an elite sportsman in rowing. At the age of 32 he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. This finished his career as professional sportsman but trainings and fitness remained a huge part of his life and philosophy.
Maybe there are a bit of
The main takeaway is definitely “good enough is good enough”. Meaning that a lot of people do not start fitness activities because they have a picture of magazine fitness models in front of them and then they decide that they will never achieve this level of fitness. But the fact is that they do not need this at all.
“If you spend half an hour three times a week doing fitness activities, you’ll be in better shape than 90 percent of the population.”
Anyone can do that, right?
“The physiological difference between two hours of running and just half an hour is between 2 and 5 percent. Do you burn more fat? Yes. Does your heart get more efficient? Yes. But only marginally. You do not have to become an exercise fanatic to enjoy the phenomenal benefits that fitness will give you.”
“If you had a horse worth $100,000, you’d give it the best food, make sure it got good exercise, and look after its health. Most people don’t think they’re worth as much as a $100,000 horse.”
“You decide how fit you’re going to be. This was the core philosophy of Good Life right from that very first club: to give you the control and means to achieve a healthy body and a sharp mind. You can make a conscious decision about how well you want to be, and that decision will affect your entire quality of life.”
And about our own field. Pushing employees in being more fit and active.
“Studies show that physically active people are more productive, have far fewer absences from work, and make at least 20 percent more on average.”
So being fit is definitely financially viable as well. You do not “waste” your time in training, but this is really a good and long terms investment with a very high ROI. 20% is not at all bad.
“Another issue affecting your ability to be your best is time. People often say, “I don’t have time to exercise.” Yet, numerous studies have shown that, at minimum you are 20% more productive if you exercise. If you are 20% more productive, that means you create 33 more hours per week by exercising. /…./
You give up an hour and a half to gain 33.”
