I think the phrase goes something like this….“Success is never owned, rent is due everyday” 

Im not sure who originally coined it but I first heard the phrase “rent is due everyday” from football super star, JJ Watt. Which is strange considering I don’t watch or keep up with the NFL, or any mainstream sports for that matter. I find more inspiration from people like Alex Honnold, Colin O’Brady or Amelia Boone. 

None the less, JJ Watt or whoever first said it really hit the nail on the head! Truth, these days can be hard to come by but I don’t think there’s any arguing that when it comes to your fitness, rent is due everyday. No exceptions!

If you don’t believe it. Take three months off your fitness routine and see what happens!

Actually, don’t do that. Either take my word for it or continue reading to learn about how I discovered the truth behind the statement. 

If you have been following Hunt Challenges chances are you know all about the 2nd annual “Birthday Run Challenge“. If not I’ll briefly explain how simple it is. On your birthday, you run a mile for each year of your life. Nothing more, nothing less. Leading up to May 14th, I hadn’t ran at all since completing a 100k at the Jackalope Jam back in February. 

I was naive enough to think that taking 90 days off wouldn’t matter much. Boy was I wrong! I won’t touch on that particular run much since there’s already a post about it. But after finishing I looked at my stats and realized my heart rate was averaging 185 BPM, damn near 100% of my estimated max for the majority of the day! No wonder I felt so shitty! On the way home I didn’t think much about the stats, I was just happy to survived. 

A few more days passed, without me paying rent…

Then on June 1st, I get a call from a friend asking if I wanted to go for a run, during the hottest part of the day? I agreed, maybe a little too quickly and was soon on my way to meet up with him. Neither of us mentioned how far or fast we were going to go, probably not the best idea. 

Jason was right on my heels as we headed out of the neighborhood. At first it felt pretty good to take off and stretch my legs. The sunlight even felt pretty good for the first half mile then I began sweating profusely. My heart felt like it was about to explode and we hadn’t even made it a mile, I checked our pace, 8:30 min/mile pace. No where near fast enough to max out my heart rate, or so I thought! My HR was at 190 BPM! Woah! This isn’t good I thought to myself as we continued on. 

I was quite embarrassed at my sub-par fitness level.

The voice in my head was trying to justify my poor performance with all sorts of excuses.

“It is 95 degrees outside”… “you didn’t hydrate”… “you didn’t stretch”… “you never run with anyone”…”you didn’t wear socks”…”your running on an empty stomach”….

All of which are complete horse shit! If I were to entertain any of those cheap excuses I would have to embrace the “victim mindset” something I would never consider doing. So I just continued running towards a nearby pull-up bar so we could trash our upper body along with our legs. 

Banging out 50 quick pull-ups didn’t help lower my heart rate but taking a sip from the water fountain before heading back was nice. Until a mile later when all that water decided to come right back up! 

I just thought I was embarrassed before. Now I was taking it to a whole new level!

In less than three months I went from running 63 miles in one day to throwing up on the sidewalk after running 4 miles and doing a few pull-ups. What in the fuck! 

On the way home after my heart rate finally dropped to normal and I was able to think clearly again. The JJ Watt quote came to mind. This time with a whole new meaning.

When it comes to fitness, there’s no doubt rent is due everyday!

I am no doubt now a believer! Some people might find it depressing to go from an optimal level of fitness to an out of shape goon in such a short amount of time. However, I found it to be enlightening and I hope you do also!

Sure, it is going to suck building myself back up from square one. But I can assure you that when I get back to my optimal level of fitness I will never let my “rent” become overdue! 

The “rent” doesn’t care if you’re an elite athlete or you’re just getting started. It must be paid everyday! 

Overall, 

I hope it has been made clear that everyday you have the choice to become stronger or you have the choice to become weaker. There is no such thing as staying the same! Think about that for a second…

If you don’t chose to get stronger today..you will be weaker tomorrow. 

No exceptions, ever!!

If you have a particular experience about having to re-build yourself. Please share here to be featured!