Introduction of Kacy Duke's Book - The Show It, Love It Workout

Published & Provided By: McGraw-Hill

Introduction: Greatness Is In You

I’ve trained Denzel Washington for years, helping him shape up for his demanding movie roles. Though he’s blessed with beautiful genes, working out has never been his first love, so I’m accustomed to seeing his fitness levels slide between roles. At first, I thought this was simply how it was going to be, training Denzel – after all, what if a role came up that demanded he gain a lot of weight? Since each role requires a different body, how could he do consistent training?

Then, I realized that I’d focused on the job, not the person. Whatever Denzel needed to do for his career, he’d do. I understood that his slipbacks had more to do with his emotional and spiritual relationship with his body than the pressures of Hollywood, and I began a focused program of working, with Denzel, on his relationship with his physical self.

One day recently, while we were running the loop in Central Park, I noticed he was as fit as I’d ever seen him, even though he was coming off a hiatus. The program was beginning to work. “I’m starting to do this for me, not for the camera,” he confided with that trademark wide smile. “I’m working out because I want to have a long, great life. I want to be fit and healthy for whatever comes along.” Amen!

Most people start exercise programs for all the wrong reasons—because they hate their thighs or want to get rid of a spare tire. That kind of superficial negative motivation can’t sustain positive change. That’s why they lose and gain the same 30 pounds over and over for years on end.  (Yes, even celebrities are susceptible.) The big problem is that, as soon as that ass gets a bit smaller or that spare tire recedes, people who don’t love their bodies suddenly see all sorts of other things they think are wrong with their physical selves.  It’s been so much hard work… and they still don’t have bodies they like (let alone perfect bodies!)… so out comes the cheesecake.

Women who fall into this trap get so bogged down by being unhappy with their physical selves that they block their spiritual and emotional progress. Even if they get appreciably closer to a lean body, they don’t appreciate it! I believe it takes all three— physical, spiritual and emotional work—to realize true success. By being honest with yourself and working hard, you can tap into your inner strength and reach your fullest potential.

Show It Love is a step-by-step process to appreciating and honoring your body—something all women desperately need to do right now. We’re marrying later. We’re having kids later. We’re asking our bodies to be strong, sexy, powerful, and most importantly healthy well into decades when our grandmas would have just thrown on the muumuus and pulled out the rockers. Now, more than ever, you need to love your body and do what’s right for it. And you know what? The reward is being in the best damn shape of your life.