DAY 9: Newton's First Law of Motion

I love the irony of Newton's First Law of Motion as it relates to our fitness challenge:

Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.  (Source:  NASA).

[Caution:  Physics Alert]

Not to put too fine a point on this, but my amateur reading of Newton's First Law suggests that we will remain parked on the couch unless an outside force "acts" on us.  There's more, but that's good for starters.  We will assume that parked on the couch means zero movement in any direction, and that means no momentum.

Momentum is important if, say, you want your mass to be moving.  Momentum is more or less the quantity of motion that a body (you) has.

[Caution:  Attempt to make a physics analogy]

If you have never done a fitness challenge, and this is a new experience, you could think of yourself as Newton's metaphorical "body at rest", having little or no motion in the fitness direction.  Along comes an outside force, aka the 10,000 Kettlebell Challenge.  Through a friend, or a colleague, or a fitness mentor, the fitness challenge acts on you, and you are no longer a body at rest.  You start moving.  Physics would talk about energy being invested into your system. . . but let's just go with you gaining motion.  And because you have mass, now moving at some velocity, you will have momentum.

If you're still reading this, I will guess that you are curious about how this story ends.  Well, all we have established is that you are 9 days into a new fitness challenge.  You are bound to have gained some momentum, and this will carry you at least a little way, even if you were to stop putting effort into becoming more fit.  I am really excited by what I have heard from participants, because people are gaining momentum in terms of their fitness.  If the trend continues, by the end of week 4 when this challenge crosses the finish line, people should have gained enough momentum to keep on going indefinitely, with minimal support. THAT is my vision for every person participating.

But how does the story end?  The truth is that I don't know.  You write your own ending to this.  But I can tell you that I think the next part of Newton's Law still applies:  the body in motion. . . will remain in motion. . . unless acted on by an outside force.  Once you have gained some fitness momentum, it will take some kind of force acting on you to get you to stop.

For some reason, I want to eat an apple. . .