I don't really have a good relationship with fitness, but I do my best within my capabilities to stay in good shape. I believe as a photographer you are required to have a good level of fitness if you want to perform and deliver results. Sure, you don't need to lift massive amount of weight, or run miles and miles to produce photography work, but it is a lot more than just merely holding a camera and clicking the shutter button. Being fit allows you to push yourself further and do your best consistently. As lazy as I am as a person, I understand this, hence I miraculously managed to find myself in the budget local neighbourhood gym and hit the weights.
For long hour shoots, I can see myself lasting longer and do not burn out physically as fast as my peers shooting alongside me. I am also more agile, being able to move faster from one spot to another quickly and this is a huge bonus if your shoot is dynamic and requires you to be on your feet moving all the time. Having that extra energy to last the day allows me to function better, be more alert and do more before the day ends. Coming home after a long day shoot I still have enough energy reserve to back up my photos, and start editing them if I have to. Waking up the next day, I do not suffer from muscle pains or body stiffness that many of my peers do, because the weights I lift in the gym are way heavier and I do that consistently to avoid muscle fatigue handling cameras and lenses all day long. I am ready for another round of job if there is one, or I can do something else like making a YouTube video, without feeling the body dragging me backward.
Preaching about fitness is the last thing you'd expect me to do, but I do have to write this down. I am no expert in this topic. The truth is, I am not getting any younger and no one is responsible for my own health, but myself. If I don't take care of my body physically, I foresee the next phase of my life will degrade in quality very quickly. It was not an easy decision, certainly it requires a lot of discipline and will power to be at the gym consistently. It also took quite a long time for me to improve my fitness level, and get in better shape. I was not obese or overweight or anything, but I was certainly not fit. It was a long journey, but the benefits I gained along the way from being fitter did not lie. I can almost say, I am a better photographer being fitter.
I really love photography. I love playing with cameras. I love going out to shoot and do my shutter therapy. I want to be able to do what I love - photography as long as I possibly can. When I am older, I still want to be able to shoot. I think the foundation of health starts when you are younger, you do not wait until you are older and you start making changes in your lifestyle for better health. I realize in my 20s and 30s, I did very little to boost my health, and I did not have a long term plan. No one told me, or maybe I was not listening to the right people about health. Now I am in my 40s, I think it is the right time to pay attention to my physical wellbeing.
There is no shortcut to health. If you want optimum fitness, there must be a balance to everything. The three big factors - lift, rest/sleep and diet. Lifting weight in the gym is only one part of the equation. Quality and quantity of sleep is also equally as important - this I managed to fix rather quickly after I quite my full time day job. Diet is the tricky part - you are after all what you eat. I am guilty of not eating clean most of the time. Hey, don't blame me, being here in Malaysia I am constantly surrounded by oily, fatty, overly sweetened, high cholesterol food everywhere anytime! Having said that, I do make an effort to cut down on the bad calories, and up my protein intake.
People often talk about the ways to get fit but not many people talk about the cost behind it all. Health is not cheap these days. Going to the gym? That costs some money. Want to eat healthier? High protein food, heck even vegetables and fruits these days are getting expensive. One important cost that is so obvious - time. I need my 8 hours sleep every day, I spend an hour in the gym per day, but getting to and back from the gym would cost me another 30-45 minutes. All these time spent adds up - and time is money. This is a luxury many people do not have, but you have got to sort out your priority in life. If your own fitness is not a priority, then what is? If it is a priority, then the cost becomes a necessity. I just have to manage it.
If you do care about doing your best as a photographer, then I believe you cannot ignore your fitness level. I want to continue to enjoy photography, that itself is a good enough reason for me to come back again and again to the gym!
