A Steady Pulse - Site Visions and Philosophy 2004

author : Ron

comments : 0

Its happening. Life has been breathed into BT. From its first breath early this year, to a strong 'pulse' now, the creature awakens and flexes its muscles.

Its happening.  Life has been breathed into BT.  From its first breath early this year, to a strong 'pulse' now, the creature awakens and flexes its muscles.  BT is well on its way to revolutionize how people fit health into their lifestyles.  Sure, I have some pretty lofty goals for the future of this site.  The ultimate is to have billboards in every major city to the tune of: 'BeginnerTriathlete.com - It's Your Life, Make the Most of it.'...or something like that.  And how about future plans to sponsor conventions to get people into the sport?  Now that's a tall order!  Believe in the site.  You have each seen the dedication EVERYONE has for it...NEVER static, always new content, new changes, new articles, new training logs that are always getting better. I am in the pursuit of more 'technical' content to quench your insatiable appetites for knowledge.  SOON, I feel it is time to publish twice a month!  WOW...your keeping us busy! :) BT will soon be your 'total' source for info, training, news, training logs that are fun BUT will have ALL the functionality for you in one place...I have lots of plans for future upgrades, additions (many based on your awesome feedback) and a easy to use advanced nutrition calculator/logging system that will rival the other stand-alones.  Sure, this will take a year or two but you ALL have shown this site your support and have emboldened me to ensure progress gets made at a steady clip.

My philosophy from BT's inception has been to get the average person with little to no prior athletic experience into a healthy, more happy lifestyle.  My focus is consistently delivering super-charged motivational content and easy-to-read beginner articles and more technical content. I definitely have a strong desire get BT's word out to the masses. 

Our healthcare in the US, and other nations is becoming out of control.  We are popping so many pills, trying so many fad diets and untested herbal supplements from who-knows-where that promise everything and then some.  With the baby boomers retiring soon, their will be a crisis on our hands.  I will be one of the generations funding this balloon in healthcare spending to pay for people such as my parents as they try to get as much as they can out of retirement.   Where is this money going to come from?  MY social security?  Increased taxes? OR is the current system going to crash?  I don't know about you but I like to keep my hard-earned money...I don't want to shell it out to someone else.

How did it get this way?  Why are we so unhealthy?

1. Transportation
2. Busy Lifestyle (No time to take care of #1)
3. Fast Food
4. Soft-Drink/Snack-Food Industry and the bombardment of their advertising campaigns.
5. Television/Entertainment
6. Being Desk Jockeys

Now, I am definitely not against items 1 - 6, like you, I enjoy many of them, BUT one must balance all of these things out with some kind of physical activity as a countermeasure. 

Being healthy and fit is not about genetics or good breeding...it's about you and how you react to your environment.  Environment plays roughly a 70% role in who you are.  All too frequently we succumb to these outside pressures...hey...it's easy!  We definitely do not have the foresight to think ahead about how our life is going to be past 40.  We live in the present.  If we even HAPPEN to entertain the thoughts of 'What's going to happen to me later in life if I maintain my current poor habits and inactivity?'...we usually will just answer with ' I will deal with them then.'   IT WILL BE TOO LATE!  Its not easy to reverse the cumulative effects from decades of poor nutrition and inactivity.

I don't know about you but I want to be healthy and independent into my 90's.  I want to be able to play with my kids and grandkids in my later years.  I don't want to be a burden to my family when I get older and am unable to take care of myself due to a lifestyle of inactivity and bad diet which would have been mostly preventable. Taking care of 'sickly' parents before their time is a huge burden on a family and I do not wish that burden on my kids or anyone for that matter as it is already happening to my in-laws.  Lots and lots of smoking and inactivity has been the big instigator.  They are on an obscene amount of medicine.   Furthermore, I do not want to go into assisted living or a nursing home...I want to 'pass' in my own bed in my own home with my own independence.

NOW you probably think this is an abnormal thought...you see it everywhere...nursing home and assisted living centers.  One must think its part of the 'normal chain of events.'  No!  One of my grandmothers played 18 holes of golf EVERY day into her early 90's while ALWAYS walking and carrying her own clubs...she lived comfortably in her own home till about 93 until she gave up her mortal coil.  What an inspiration! 

Nowadays its pretty much normal to have heart-attacks and bypasses in your 40's and 50's...those hardened arteries and weak circulatory system....preventable.  BUT its great for the enormous healthcare industry.  That's their money makers and they thank you.  Nobody want to spend money on prevention campaigns...'prevention' seems so...well...boring and not radical enough.

I can go on and on citing examples of preventable diseases through decent diet and exercise.  I would care to wager that if everyone had to train for a sprint triathlon, healthcare would be a fraction of its size and we would no longer would have to pay the majority or our health insurance on people who didn't have the foresight to better take care of themselves.   Insurance would go instead toward the people with genetic diseases, accidents and the routine checkups to other miscellany....which are now only a fraction of total healthcare.  Billions could be spent elsewhere.

LETS CHANGE THIS!!!!   Lets give people the 'oomph' and motivation to change their lives for the better!  I am convinced that this is the best sport for overall health.  Lets take at least 3-5 hours out of our week to adopt a healthier, happier lifestyle.  Three to five hours?  That's not much if you really sit down and think about it.  Three to five hours...the BEST investment you will EVER make.  The returns are priceless.

Your Homework:

Know of a few people that mean a lot to you in your life and you would love to see them make a few healthy changes to their life?  Send them to beginnertriathlete.com or just print out some of the 'heart-warming' and motivational stories about how others went up against the odds and turned their life around.  Don't push them as when people have no current momentum, it is very hard to establish inertia.  It is very difficult to get somebody moving when they are stopped.  BUT drop hints every once in a while, be a great role-model, invite them to your races, have them go walking or biking with you regularly - at their own pace, have them be around others like you who have similar life-changing stories to hear AND BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, that seed you planted in their mind will start to germinate and grow...remember...it must be their idea in order to embrace it.  Example:  If I know my son is hungry and needs a bottle, he WILL NOT take it UNLESS I present it to him in a such a way that makes it like it was his idea first...then he drinks up ravenously.

Best of luck in training and racing for 2004!!!!  YEAHHHHH......BT!

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date: September 2, 2004