“The body must be trained to match the mind. A cultivated spirit housed in a withered body is a contradiction.”
— Yukio Mishima
There are truths we notice when we’re young – if we’re paying attention. They’re not always obvious to everyone, but they’re so clear to you that it almost feels strange others don’t see them.
Maybe you realised early that you’d never follow the path your parents took. Or that you’d raise your kids differently. Or that the traditional “9–5, retire at 65” route just wouldn’t suit you.
For me, two truths stood out before I even reached my teens. First, that I’d always write – at least for myself – no matter what career I chose. Before I turned 10, I knew it was the only place I felt like myself as a socially awkward kid.
Second, that health mattered more than anything else. I understood instinctively that if I lost my health, every other goal – success, freedom, relationships – would lose its meaning. These two things were obvious to me then, even if they weren’t to anyone else.
The Hostel Days
I was 15 when I first truly understood what movement could do beyond the body. I was in a boarding school in East London and had this very buff friend, roommate and classmate called X – otherwise known as Batista, named after the WWE wrestler.
You don’t get the nickname Batista unless you look like you can lift people’s burdens, and X was that guy. Teachers liked him. Girls liked him. Even older boys treated him differently. I thought it was luck, maybe genetics, maybe a charm I didn’t have. I was terrible with girls, so the last part seemed the most likely reason to me.
It’s not easy being close friends with someone who’s great at what you suck at – even when you get along, envy still finds a way in.
The boys’ and girls’ hostels were in the same yard, though separate. We’d go to their side for meals since the kitchen was there, and this punk would get special treatment for his food. His eggs and meals were made exactly the way he liked because he was this “fussy health freak.” It annoyed me a bit.
Well, you’ve heard the saying, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” We also wanted the attention Batista was getting from the girls, so we decided to humble ourselves. Long story short, all eight of us in the room joined in. We started taking cold showers before bed to wash off the sweat from our push-ups and countless bicep curls using makeshift dumbbells made from our sports bags.
We took plenty of topless pictures after each workout to track our progress. And in case you’re wondering if we showed the ladies those topless pics when we went to dine on their side – hell yeah, we did. But they never seemed impressed.
Batista advised us on what foods to avoid and the value of sleep. It felt like just from exercising, we had to change so many other things in our lives – and we did.
At first, it was all for the girls. But as the discipline grew, it slowly felt more personal, more important to you than to anyone else.
What moved us physically had moved everything else in our lives without us ever intending to.
The Ripple Effect of Movement
When people think of exercise, they often think of fitness. But fitness is only the surface. Working out is one of those rare habits that quietly rebuilds your life from the inside out.
Once you start moving your body, other parts of your life begin to move with it. You start eating better, sleeping deeper, thinking clearer. Movement disciplines your habits long before it transforms your appearance.
That’s why James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, calls working out a cornerstone habit – one that leads to the development of other positive habits. I experienced this firsthand.
The body doesn’t need a grand plan. It just needs a beginning – a single stretch, a slow jog, or a quiet promise to move again tomorrow.
And before you start thinking about gym memberships, remember: you don’t need one to get moving. What you need is discipline, and that starts with small momentum: a five-minute walk, a 10-minute run, ten push-ups – the basics.
The Illusion of Projects
The reason most of us struggle to stay consistent with exercise is because we’re too quick to want rewards for games we haven’t played. Working out is different from most things we do as it is purely objective and merit-based.
Your body repays you exactly for the effort you put in. No “but I deserve this” or “I’m historically marginalised.” The body doesn’t play those games. All rewards are earned – and anyone can earn them if they’re patient enough to show up for just five minutes a day, rather than showing up once in a while like loadshedding and still expecting astronomical results.
Another reason many never get the results they want is because they treat their bodies like short-term projects. Lose 10 kilos, fit into jeans, get a summer body. But the most important things in life don’t have finish lines.
A good relationship doesn’t end – at least it shouldn’t. No one ever says to their partner, “I’ll only be kind to you for the next three months.” Meaningful work doesn’t end either. And taking care of your body shouldn’t end. Why should it, when you need your health before every other goal in life?
Working out isn’t something you finish. It’s something you live – like prayer, reflection, or reading. The work itself has to become part of who you are.
There’s peace in that – knowing that your likelihood of reaching other goals depends on how disciplined you are in this one area.
That discipline transfers everywhere else.
Movement and Mindset
Most people underestimate the power of small, consistent efforts and overestimate quick wins.
The biggest benefit of working out is that you start to see challenges – not just in the gym, but in life – as something to face rather than avoid. You take pride in doing hard things. And that pride builds belief – the belief that maybe you’re capable of far more than you think.
Because I work out first thing in the morning, I can tell when I skip a session. On those days, I feel like I’ve started my day without being challenged, and the rest of it tends to go downhill. That might not be relatable if you’re a beginner, but for me, working out is a metaphor for life – and the greatest form of personal development, given how much it gives back over time.
Movement trains your attitude as much as it trains your body. It teaches you to meet effort with effort, to take control of your mornings, and to face life instead of waiting for it to soften.
What Moves You Moves Everything
If there’s one thing I learnt from Batista back in my hostel days, it’s that exercise shapes more than the body. It shifts something in the spirit. Every time you move with intention, you remind yourself that life responds to movement – not noise or lofty plans, but movement.
The best things in life: faith, love, purpose – don’t demand perfection. They demand presence. Working out is the same.
And if you stay with it long enough, you’ll see that what moves you doesn’t just reshape your habits or attitude… it reshapes your life.
© Phumzile