Exercise

The E word.  People hate it, don’t they?  I suppose I would too, if my only regular exposure to exercise was under the neon lights of a big box gym, pounding away on a treadmill after a long day at work with nothing but bad TV and crappy music to distract me.  Well, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Let me preface all of this by saying if you have an exercise routine that makes you happy, makes you feel good, and is getting you the results you want, you’re doing it right.  Even if it’s in a big gym and your routine involves treadmills and weight machines.  We are all different.  If, however, you are one of the many who find “traditional” exercise to be boring and ineffective, I think I can help you.

Play, but play seriously:

I believe Bruce Lee first said that.  Exercise should be fun.  It should be something we look forward to.  If you don’t enjoy your exercise then you won’t do it – and maybe you shouldn’t.  This is why I advocate play-based exercise.  Now, when I talk to people about play as exercise they seem to think it means kazoos and clown makeup.  “Play” does not mean “silly.”  I define play as “the exploration of the possible” and it can be serious business.  Exercise should be a path to self discovery and a greater connection to the world around you.  You should learn a little something every time.  If you take this play concept to heart I guarantee you will never be bored by exercise again.

That is broad, heady stuff, I know.  I do have some more specific recommendations to get you going:

Find an activity:

While any truly solid exercise program will include some conditioning, don’t just condition endlessly with no greater purpose.  Find a physical activity that grabs your interest and begin to practice it.  For me, the activities are martial arts and parkour.  Dance is a great choice, as is climbing, skin diving, yoga, street hockey… the list goes on and on.  Practicing your chosen activity is great exercise in-and-of itself, but maybe more important is that it provides strong motivation for supplemental conditioning.  Can’t climb that wall quickly and fluidly? Do some pull-ups and work towards a muscle-up.  Having trouble with some dance footwork?  Find good foot speed and agility drills.  Conditioning becomes a means-to-an-end rather than a means-to-no-end-in-sight.  Much has been written on the importance of goal setting for people who are looking to get in shape.  Finding an activity you love makes setting goals extremely easy and effective.

Make it primal:

In my experience, the most universally effective and fun forms of exercise have one thing in common:  We’ve been doing them for hundreds of thousands of years (millions of years if you count proto-human species).  Put simply, for as long as we have existed we have been running, jumping, lifting, climbing, throwing, exploring, swimming, fighting, and dancing.  Base your exercise around some or all of these activities and you’ll do well.

High touch:

Get your hands dirty.  Eschew man made and smooth surfaces for natural and textured ones.  Blast your brain with sensation.  It makes things much more pleasurable and jump starts neurogenesis.  I also strongly recommend you begin the slow process of learning how to run barefoot.  You won’t believe the difference it makes until you try it.

Train the whole animal:

A lot of physically active people think they can get away without any strength training.  Please do strength training.  It will make your life better.  Do not, however, fall into the rut of only training strength and cardio.  There is more to your body than the musculoskeletal system and the cardio-respiratory system.  Your nervous system needs stimulation and development too.  Practice speed, coordination, agility, and balance regularly.  You will prehabilitate yourself from injury and enjoy increased athletic performance.

Rest:

This should be easy advice to follow, but it trips up a lot of people.  Rest regularly.  Your body needs time to rebuild itself.  You know that acquaintance of yours who’s a total gym rat?  They guy who spends his life working out?  Notice how he always seems to have a sniffle?  Don’t be that guy.

Why are you doing this?

I’ll close with some thoughts on why we should be exercising.  Clearly, the health benefits will improve the quality of your life.  But it doesn’t stop there, does it?  You want to be able to support your family and be there for them.  Now push it out a step further.  You will be a better friend if you are healthy vs. sick.  Push it out further and recognize that we are all members of local and global communities.  I’m sure you’ve noticed that we humans have some pretty big challenges we must confront.  How will we do if we’re too sick to apply ourselves?  My guess is not very well.  We train to be strong, functional, useful members of society.  If you have been lacking the motivation to begin, I hope this gets you moving.  We need you.



Comments

[yoga for beginners]

Love to exercise to release those sweat in my body. Enjoy and feel the benefits of exercise. :)