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spun in mid air and caught myself enough to make the fall fairly soft. I was spared landing on my back, which would have likely resulted in a life long injury. Somewhere in the fall something hit my pant leg hard enough to tear a one inch hole in my shin along side the bone. I have a tattoo there now that says Shugyo in Japanese which is a martial art practice of having a special training session where you push past the point of your endurance. It reminds me that training saved my back that day.

Freedom.

When I was at my most sedentary I would hang out at a my local gaming club and not walk the 40 feet to the corner store for soda, chips and candy. I would wait until someone else was going and give them money to bring me junk food back. After a few years of exercise I was staying in Alaska with some friends. It had snowed a foot or tow and we walked a mile through the snow at night to get to an Italian restaurant, decide we didn't feel like Italian, walk a mile back to the house and made steaks and salads. That was a damn fine meal.

Freedom.

A couple of years ago I worked with one of the best Olympic Power lifting coaches this country has ever seen. For five months we worked together brining my squats from 140 pound singles to 320 pound sets at a faster pace. The explosiveness I gained still remains in my Aikido, and I keep it up by focusing on rapid calisthenics for my own routines.

Freedom.

In every fitness method I have tried - Martial Arts, Walking, Body Building, Power Lifting, Running, Yoga, Group Programs, Fasting, Meal Tracking, Point Watching; I have always been looking for a way out. A way to resolve my fitness issues permanently and without continuing effort. Each method I hoped for a way to finally 'win.' Thanks to bringing exercise into the core of my life I have finally been able to give that false dream up. Today, I live. I live fitter and continue to seek out fitness knowing that the only final solution comes with the grave and that life is never done while one is alive. Today, each day, is a celebration of being able to walk to the dojo, help friends move couches, shop for my mother and work with a clear mind. Today, when someone asks me what the benefit of exercise is I smile and reply, "Freedom."

Learn more about this author, Travis Eneix.
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