Somewhere in our school background we learned about Newton’s laws of motion.
Here’s is what I found on Wikipedia:
Newton’s laws of motion are three physical laws that together laid the foundation for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between a body and the forces acting upon it, and its motion in response to said forces. They have been expressed in several different ways over nearly three centuries, and can be summarized as follows:
- First law: An object at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by a force. An object in motion remains in motion, and at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force.
- Second law: The acceleration of a body is directly proportional to, and in the same direction as, the net force acting on the body, and inversely proportional to its mass. Thus, F = ma, where F is the net force acting on the object, m is the mass of the object and a is the acceleration of the object.
- Third law: When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to that of the first body.
The three laws of motion were first compiled by Isaac Newton in his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687. Newton used them to explain and investigate the motion of many physical objects and systems.
One of my Biggest Loser team members told me this week that the little bit that she has been able to do in the way of exercise has made her want to do more and be more active. Which really is Newton’s first law when you relate it to fitness. When you sit on the couch, you are going to stay on the couch unless a force (motivation, a friend, getting fed up with the status quo) acts and gets you off the couch and moving. Once you start moving, it’s hard to stop because movement encourages more movement. Now, movement will stop if something comes along to derail you, but you don’t have to let it derail you forever. You can be the acting force that gets yourself moving again.
Now, as far as law #2, once you get moving, there will need to be continued forces acting to get you moving more and faster. This is where friends and workout buddies come in. When you have a friend (or more) that is moving with you, they will push you to new places and will accelerate your movement. Take for instance my friends:
- Lisa and Anne – These ladies are my running partners. I get out of bed because of them. They push me on my pace, my distance, and my belief of what is possible. I don’t know where I would be without the two of them. Definitely not where I am now. And I for sure wouldn’t have finished Goofy’s 39.3 mile challenge.
- Crystal – This one is always looking for something new to do to keep us motivated. I suggested a mile-a-day challenge from Memorial Day to July 4, and she said yes. Then promptly suggested a 90-day Bikini Body Mommy workout which is kicking our butts daily.
- Stephanie – My sister keeps me going because she keeps going. She is constantly doing some kind of workout and we compare notes on what our workout schedules are looking like and what we like and dislike about them.
These are a few of the people who are the forces that accelerate my mass.
Law three basically says that when force is exerted on one thing, that thing also exerts force back.
For all the help that these ladies are to me, I hope that I am in turn encouraging and pushing them in new ways, a symbiotic relationship of sorts.
Any of us can decide to put Newton’s first law of motion into motion by getting up and moving, and we can even sustain that for a while on our own. Eventually, laws two and three have to be put into place to keep us moving, because we will get discouraged, have bad days, want to quit, and we need those external forces pushing us just a little bit harder. And they need us pushing back.
If you don’t have people to push you, find some. It’s worth it!