Power of Fitness: Vincent Lam (Transcript)

Here is the full transcript of Vincent Lam’s talk titled “Power of Fitness” at TEDxRanneySchool 2018 conference.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

So good afternoon, everyone. So I want to start today off with a question. By a show of hands, who here exercises for at least 30 minutes a day, five times a week? That’s pretty impressive.

Awesome. So according to the American Heart Association, that is actually the recommended amount of exercise per week. So nearly 80% of adult Americans don’t meet this recommendation, which can potentially set themselves up for years of health problems later down the road. So as a fitness professional, one of the most common things I hear is, “I don’t have time.”

So let me tell you guys something about time. Every single one of you has 168 hours in a week, and I’m only asking for two and a half hours out of your week. And for what? To live a better life, a healthier life, or even a longer life.

These are all benefits that come with exercise. Fitness is a lifestyle. This is not a quick fix. This is something you have to incorporate into your daily regimen, just like brushing your teeth or taking a shower.

Personal Background

My name is Vincent Lam, and I started exercising as a hobby. I went on to school and majored in it in college, and now I’m doing it as a career. This is how the power of fitness changed my life.

So I have five main points I want to share with you guys today. We all know that exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, but what you may not know is just how important it is. So these benefits may include reducing serious health problems, such as chronic diseases.

It may boost your brain functions, so in a sense, it can make you smarter.

It can improve your mental and as well as emotional health, and make you more disciplined as a person, whether you’re in school or even at work. And lastly, it will make you more confident inside and out.

So most people exercise because either A, they want to lose weight, they want to look better, or they have health issues. One of the reasons why I started working out was because I wanted to impress the girls. But I then found out that the only people that I really impressed were the other dudes in the gym.

Health Benefits of Exercise

So over the years, that changed. Now I exercise because I love the challenge. I love the sense of accomplishment it gives me. I love watching my body transform.

But most importantly, I love inspiring and helping others. So my first main point I want to talk to you guys today is how exercise can actually reduce health problems, such as these chronic diseases listed above. Obesity, heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, and the list goes on.

So by a show of hands, who here knows or has someone with one of these diseases I just mentioned? It’s a lot. So without proper care and prevention, all of these diseases can actually be lethal.

Over one-third of the population are actually considered obese, which can lead to many of these diseases that I just mentioned before. However, this can all be prevented through proper nutrition and exercise. So when you exercise and make healthy food choices, what happens to your body? You will put on muscle, making your joints and ligaments stronger. You will be less prone to injuries. And you’ll look ten times better.

Visceral Fat and Chronic Diseases

You will also lose fat in places that you don’t want, like your arms, your stomach, your legs, your love handles. So not only do you lose fat on the outside, you will lose fat on the inside. This is the fat that surrounds our organs, and this is called visceral fat.

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Visceral fat can cause many of these chronic diseases listed above, which can be lethal. So I want to share with you guys a perfect example. My father was actually kind of overweight. He was very unhealthy. He had a very poor diet, which led to diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and the list goes on.

So over the years, he’s made better food choices. However, in these last two months, he wanted to change his life around for the better. He started incorporating vegetables into his every meal. He started eating good sources of healthy fats.

He got good sources of protein in. One thing he did take out were carbs. He took out bread. He took out rice. He took out pasta. He even took out most fruits, and the results were actually staggering. He lost over 20 pounds. He stopped taking a lot of his medication, and he even stopped taking his insulin shots.

Exercise and Brain Function

So by incorporating exercise and proper nutrition, it can reverse something as serious as diabetes. So he took out carbs because he was a diabetic. So I’m not trying to say carbs are a bad thing. You just have to make sure that you’re eating it in moderation and making smart food choices.

So my second point I want to talk to you guys today is how exercise can actually make you smarter. So when you exercise, your heart is going to pump more oxygen into your brain and throughout your body. So from experience, a lot of the clients that I work with always forget how to breathe when they exercise.

So in order to reap these benefits, you have to make sure you are breathing in through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. So when you do that, your brain and body will release tons of hormones, which will provide a nourishing environment for the growth of new brain cells. It may also act as a first aid kit on damaged brain cells.

So in a sense, it’s kind of healing your mind. If you incorporate exercise into your daily regimen, it will prepare you for mental stresses that you encounter for the rest of the day. It will also increase the retention of new information, improving your memory, and also giving better reactions to complex situations.

Exercise and Mental Health

So not only does exercise make you look better, make you healthier, it may also make you more productive whether you’re at work or at school. So the third point I want to cover today is how exercise can actually improve your mental health. So it’s not just about how far you can run or how much you can lift.

Exercise can improve you mentally as well. It is vital for maintaining mental fitness. So studies show that exercise can actually treat depression, anxiety, and stress just as well as medication without the side effects, of course.

So here’s why exercise is so effective when it comes to these types of problems. So here’s what starts to happen in your body. You will produce more endorphins, which are hormones that make you feel good.

It may also act as a natural painkiller. It can improve your alertness and concentration. It will also improve your ability to sleep. So in a sense, it will help you relieve stress. It can decrease overall levels of tension, whether it’s in your mind or in your body. It may help elevate your mood, making you happier.

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Exercise and Discipline

And lastly, it will give you plenty of energy for you to use throughout the day. So your mind and body works hand in hand. When one feels better, so will the other.

So my next point I want to cover today is discipline. With exercise comes all of those intrinsic health benefits that I mentioned earlier. However, in order to reap all these benefits, you have to make sure that you are consistent as well as disciplined.

So most people want to be healthy, and they want to live a long life, right? So this doesn’t happen by accident. Most of the healthiest and happiest people in the world all probably have one thing in common, and that is discipline.

Living a healthy lifestyle takes consistency and discipline. So first of all, you would have to plan your day accordingly. You got to make sure you have enough time to incorporate exercise into your daily regimen, whether it’s in the morning, in the afternoon, or even at night when you’re really tired. And this doesn’t always have to be boring. It could be something that you like. It could be go out and playing sports, going for a hike, going for a walk, or even taking a dance class with someone you like.

Healthy Food Choices

Second, you have to make sure that you are making healthy food choices. You got to make sure you’re eating good sources of protein so that your muscles can build and repair itself. You got to make sure you’re incorporating healthy fats into your diet so your hormones are functioning properly.

You got to make sure you’re having good sources of carbs so that you have enough energy for you to use throughout the day. And also your micronutrients, which are your vitamins and minerals. So all of this takes discipline.

However, this doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a journey. Learn to love the things that are good for you. Discipline is a decision, a decision that says, “I will constantly do the things that I need to do in order to reach my goals.” Sometimes this is easier said than done.

The good news is, is that discipline is like a muscle. The more you start to use it, the easier it will be. Discipline becomes habitual. So this brings me to my last point, confidence.

Exercise and Confidence

So there’s nothing better than seeing your hard work pay off. When you exercise and you eat well, you will start to see physical and mental changes happen throughout your body. Being happy with how you look is essential for confidence.

When you feel good, when you look good, you will feel good. You want to be happy with yourself no matter where you are on your journey. Your mindset will become healthier as well as more positive.

It’s going to be easier for you to socialize with new people, make new friends and possibly open doors to new opportunities. New opportunities and new connections may lead to new friendships, new relationships or even new careers. When you’re confident, this becomes contagious.

People would want to be around you. They can feel this. When more people are around you, this is the opportunity for you to inspire and motivate others. So I’m so passionate when it comes to fitness that my friends and family see the changes that I inspired within myself and they want the same for themselves.

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Personal Inspiration

So speaking of friends and family, this is a picture of my mom and I taken at the gym a few weeks ago. So she’s actually the embodiment of all of these principles that I covered. She’s my inspiration.

Many years ago, she decided to make fitness a part of her lifestyle and ever since I think I followed her footsteps. So she works 40 hours a week, but yet she still makes time to exercise, make healthy food choices and also take care of her family. She’s actually 50 years old.

She’s turning 51 in June. So age is not a number. Age is not a factor. It doesn’t matter how old you are. You can start wherever, whenever. So I just want to say thank you, mom, for being such a great role model, inspiration and a loving mother.

My Fitness Journey

So this was my journey. I started working out as a sophomore in high school around eight years ago. So there were three main reasons why I started working out. A, I had low self-esteem and I lacked confidence. B, I wasn’t the brightest kid in school and I also wasn’t the most athletic kid in school. And C, my best friend was doing it and so was my mom. So they were people who I looked up to.

So when I first started, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I basically did bicep curls every day. I didn’t know nutrition was important. Sometimes I would starve myself just so my abs would show.

However, I was there consistently. I was there five or six times a week and I saw progress. The more progress I saw, the more I fell in love with fitness. So I realized that this was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

So I went to Penn State University. I studied kinesiology. For those of you who don’t know what kinesiology is, it is the study of body movements. I realized that this was my passion. Not only was it just exercise, I love to help others, whether it’s helping people reach their goals such as losing weight, building muscle, or even just being happy.

Conclusion

So I’m extremely grateful that I have the opportunity to turn my passion into a career doing something that I love. I know this is taking fitness to an extreme, however, you don’t have to follow my footsteps. This is just one example of how I incorporated fitness into my life.

But if there’s one thing I want you guys to take home today, it’s that as long as you incorporate fitness into your life, your future self will thank you. Fitness is not just about helping yourself, but about helping others as well. I’m actually terrified of public speaking, if you guys didn’t tell already.

But here I am speaking in front of all of you today about something that I love and that I think you can benefit from. Change your habits and you will change your lifestyle. Working out isn’t a punishment, it’s a blessing.

Nutrition isn’t restrictive, it’s healing. Health isn’t a one-size-fits-all, it may not look the same for everyone, but it is something worth fighting for. So thank you all for coming and taking the time to come listen today. Again, my name is Vincent Lam and I hope you can benefit from fitness.