Do you dread working out? Do you feel like you have to force yourself to get to the gym? Are you relying on incentives to get your bum off the sofa and into your walking shoes? If that’s you then you need to change some things up and create a workout program that you love! It is so much more motivating doing exercise when it’s something you actually enjoy.
Personally, I love exercise but I understand full well that this is not the case for a large majority of the population. I believe this is because there is so much misperception around what exercise SHOULD be.
Forcing yourself to do something everyday because it’s what you have been led to believe will not be sustainable in the long run.
Forcing yourself to do something everyday because it’s what you have been led to believe will not be sustainable in the long run. Or at the least, it will take a little bit of joy from your life. It is so important to live your daily life with as much of what brings you joy as possible. And that includes your exercise regime. Because let’s face it, one thing we all KNOW to be true is that consistent exercise is an important part of living a healthy life.
Exercise is a lot more about movement than it is about reps, weights and 5km runs. I feel like the word “exercise” has become such a negative word for so many. It often triggers feelings of inadequacy, anxiety or guilt. So from now on, can we reframe exercise by simply calling it a different name?
I like the word ‘movement’, but you might choose to use the words ‘creating energy’ (because when we move we actually create energy – how cool?!), ‘building’, ‘strengthening’, ‘get my sweat on’…etc. Choose a word or phrase that has positive connotations for you and encourages you to get moving!
Ok now that we have reframed exercise, let’s look at what options we have for movement…
I believe that doing the most natural or functional movement possible, is the most beneficial to our body. So think activities like walking, climbing, swimming etc. Thousands of years ago people were in pretty good shape. Did they have a gym membership, do a hundred crunches a day or spend an hour on an elliptical? I don’t think so. Are you also imagining a prehistoric elliptical right now? Perhaps that’s just me. Even with my imagination, I don’t think that was the case.
Civilization back then did not need a crossfit gym or aerobic classes because movement was an all day, everyday thing.
Civilization back then did not need a crossfit gym or aerobic classes because movement was an all day, everyday thing. They would walk quite a way to get water (some people still have to do that btw), lift and carry heavy things, climb, dig, run, play. They did not sit on a sofa watching tv for hours on end, drive a couple kilometers to pick up a ready made meal for dinner or make a quick call to get someone to fix a leaking roof. Simply surviving was a workout in itself.
I’m not saying you now need to sell your car, throw away your tv and cut off your water supply. Although if that’s something you feel compelled to do, by all means do so. It could simply be walking around while you’re talking on the phone, walking to the store instead of driving, carrying a full watering can to water your garden or simply climbing a tree for entertainment instead of scrolling through instagram to get that quick dopamine hit.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s necessary in this day and age to have a workout regime or even better, a “movement plan”. This is helpful for a lot of reasons, one of which is to make sure we are targeting certain muscles that tend to atrophy if left unused and especially as we age. These muscles won’t necessarily get targeted by climbing a tree once in a while and some of us don’t have access to trees on a daily basis.
So although I advocate moving throughout the day and because we live in the world we live in today where very few of us have the luxury of living in a natural habitat surrounded by nature’s playground, we have to be intentional about getting in movement to keep us fit and strong for as long as possible. And I really do believe that we can thrive into old age if we maintain a healthy life and keep moving. Muscle mass is one of the first things to start wasting away as we age so it’s important to keep that up. And how do we keep that up? By working those muscles!
According to Harvard Health there are 4 types of exercise/movement necessary for a healthy, balanced body. These are; aerobic, strengthening, stretching and balancing exercises. An ideal movement plan is one that targets all of these types of movement.
Stay tuned for my next post where I dive deeper into each type of exercise and then I’ll guide you in creating your very own movement plan. In the meantime…get moving!