The “What About Bob?” Guide to Health & Fitness

What About Bob? is definitely one of Bill Murray’s less appreciated films, but I think there are actually some great lessons in there that can be applied to our own health & fitness journeys, if we look closely enough.

If you’re not familiar with the movie, Bill Murray stars as Bob Wiley, a severely dysfunctional human being. He has great difficulty with pretty much any type of social interaction, including even leaving his own apartment. Richard Dreyfuss plays his new therapist, Dr. Leo Marvin. The main plot of the movie centers around Bob getting too attached to his therapist, going so far as to follow him and his family on vacation.

So what could this movie possibly have to teach me about health and fitness, you ask? Well, let’s dive in and take a look:

Take Baby Steps

In the movie, Bob’s therapist has written a self-help book titled “Baby Steps”. He describes the basic idea of the book to Bob as:

“It’s about setting small, reasonable goals for yourself. One day at a time. One tiny step at a time.”

No matter what your weight loss and fitness goals are, this is great advice.

If you’re setting out to lose more than 100 pounds, don’t immediately focus on all of the time and energy that’s going to be involved with losing all that weight, you’ll just overwhelm yourself. Instead, set smaller, intermediate goals for yourself – maybe every 10 pounds – and focus on those one at a time. Don’t forget to celebrate every time you reach one of your goals!

The same idea applies if you’re just getting started with running. Don’t just sprint out the door and try running a 5k your first time out. More than likely, you’ll just end up injuring yourself. Instead, start slowly using a program like Couch to 5k that gradually increases your running distance over time.

Remember, this is a lifelong journey, you don’t have to go out and conquer the world on the first day.

Create a Healthy Mantra

As Bob walked down a busy New York street, he repeated the following mantra to himself to help get him through this situation that was very difficult for him:

“I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful.

I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful.”

Ok, so maybe you don’t want something quite that simplistic, but having some sort of mantra, or surrounding yourself with inspirational quotes, can definitely help you get through the tough times. And I promise you – there will be tough times – no sugar coating here

Focus on the Positive and Celebrate Your Successes

Near the middle of the movie, Bob has made a lot of friends and had a lot of new experiences, when he is invited to go sailing. At first he is obviously terrified at the very idea, but in the end decides to go for it anyway. When he finally gets out there, he couldn’t be happier with himself:

“I’m sailing! I’m saaaaaiiiling! Did you see me? I sailed. I let the boat do all the work, that’s my secret.”

Ignoring the fact that he had to be tied to the mast, Bob instead chose to focus on the positive thing that he had accomplished, which in his case was a pretty big deal.

On our own health and fitness journeys, it’s equally important to focus on the positives and to celebrate our successes. Sure you’ll have a bad day from time to time. Maybe you ate a little more than you should have, or didn’t get that workout in that you wanted to. But tomorrow is another day, and there is no sense dwelling on it and letting it ruin your day or week.

What do you think? Am I totally bonkers for thinking a movie like What About Bob could actually have some redeeming qualities to it (I get some crazy ideas when I’m out running)? And the more important question – great Bill Murray movie, or greatest Bill Murray movie?