Before I'm 40... Part 5, Get physically fit

Developing a philosophy of life can help keep us spiritually and emotionally healthy, but what about physical health?

I started running regularly when I was 16 – at that time I planned to join the army and knew I needed to get in good shape. My plans for the military changed, but through college I continued to run, rock climbed, and took up taekwondo and Thai boxing. I then started playing rugby. I was in pretty good shape.

Then, shortly before turning 25, Grace and I moved location, to a church where I was going to invest the next 13 years of my life, and I got out of the habit of exercise. I did bits of exercise here and there, but nothing organized and pretty soon put on weight, went up a belt size, and generally began to lose fitness.

By the time I was 29 I knew I needed to do something about my physical condition, or I would hit 30 and find it all the more difficult to get it back again. My good friend Tom Eaton (who is now church planting in Japan) encouraged me to enter a triathlon, and three months after turning 30 I did my first race, a sprint distance tri in Brighton. I loved it, and was hooked. The next year I was back, this time for the Olympic distance (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run). I had been swimming breast stroke up to this point, but then taught myself to swim freestyle, joined a tri club and got pretty serious about it, often training six days a week. I was always a poor swimmer and runner, but got strong on the bike, and at my best managed to bang out a 2hr25 Olympic distance tri – hardly world class, but not too shabby.

Then two years ago I crashed off my bike while racing – coming down a hill too fast in wet conditions – and took a knock to my confidence as well as my head. This happened at the same time that the decision was made we should move on from New Community Church, and in the turmoil of working out our next steps triathlon took more of a back seat. I joined a tri club as soon as we moved to Poole but the times and location of the training sessions didn’t really fit with my other commitments. So I have had a relatively inactive couple of years, and now find myself pretty much back where I was ten years ago.

The trouble is, it is even harder to get going again touching 40 than it was touching 30!

But does it matter?

Yes, I think it does.

Once we get past age 30 the body starts to slow considerably. Past 30 the metabolism begins to slow to such an extent that you will put on a pound in weight every year simply by eating what you have previously eaten and exercising as you have previously exercised. Added to this, bone mass starts to decrease.

The only way to keep the weight off and the bones strong is to eat less and train more. My fondness for wine and cheese, sausages and beer, butter and chocolate seems, if anything, to be increasing as I grow older. As I find these pleasures hard to resist I ought to be doing even more exercise – more cardio work, more weights work.

And so should you.

Too many leaders give in to their slowing metabolisms, their aches and pains, and the busyness of their schedules, and carry on eating while stopping exercising. They get fat and this makes them unhealthy and less energetic. They get sick more often as a result, and are not able to work with the vigor they should. Their spreading girths also often betray a growing spiritual malaise, because our souls are not separate from our bodies.

This does not honor Jesus, or serve his church. It is not good enough when gluttony is the one acceptable ministry sin.

Christian ministry does not generally require a highly developed musculature, but it is highly demanding, with many pressures. Being in good physical shape helps us to handle these pressures more effectively.

I have always been impressed by the example of Nelson Mandela, described in his biography Long Walk to Freedom. Knowing the inevitability of imprisonment Mandela got himself in good shape. He knew prison would be tough, and he wanted to be physically strong enough to survive it. Christian leaders should adopt a similar mentality.

So it is a good principle for younger leaders to develop habits of healthy eating and regular exercise before they are 40 – it is so much harder to develop these habits once you are already into middle age. Start young, and keep going until you’re old. (For some helpful advice on weight loss see this post by church planting guru Ed Stetzer.)

Ok, I’m going to do some weights right now! And I’m saying “no” to that chocolate brownie thanks Grace – you’ll be glad I did.