I’ve always been somewhat of a fitness guy. But I have also also been fortunate to be naturally lean. Most of my fitness pertains to my job and my personal desire to do active things like hiking and bike riding for personal enjoyment.

But I have to admit, I have my lot phases. Sometime I get more interested in my DVR and relaxing on my couch. And age doesn’t help! I used to be able to take all the time off I wanted and jump back into the gym and bounce back into shape in about a week. But age hasn’t helped that!

But this past weekend I had a chance to watch an ironman competition and cheer on a friend. For anyone who doesn’t know, the ironman is a race that consists of a 2.5 mile swim, 112 miles bike ride and then a 26.2 mile run… Yea.. Not for the faint of heart.

But to my surprise the competitors were not all ultra athletes. Many had the body shape the appeared they hadn’t been to the gym in a while. And amazingly, there about 10 participants that were over the age of 70!

So standing on the side lines cheering these people on made me wonder why the heck I think I can’t complete a race like that?! Oh, I know I would need massive training. And I’d have to break through the mental barriers and trust that I can do it. But will I?

I’m a long way from an ironman but I have started to kick myself in the butt to get motivated and push myself more.

But more importantly, the entire experience made me wonder: if I set up mental barriers in my fitness, what other mental barriers have I let myself put up?

What have you talked yourself out of throughout your life? And what will you do to break free and excel?