If there’s an eight-letter word that can send the average person fleeing to the safety of the couch, it would be the dreaded word “exercise”. To some people, the thought of pulling on the shorts, T shirt and joggers and sweating it out in the name of health is worse than whatever disease or disorder they may contract by not exercising. As a personal trainer and group fitness leader, I meet people on a daily basis who would rather hand-feed great white sharks than work out.
Guest Fitness Blogger – Tricia Duffield
You know what? I don’t blame them. Gyms are not always inviting, uplifting or stimulating environments. I don’t blame anyone who decides being lashed to a treadmill for an hour is not their idea of fun. It can, in fact, be boring.
It doesn’t have to be that way. I’m a fitness professional and I’m not crazy about spending my lovely, sunny days in a virtual dungeon, surrounded by industrial machinery fuelled by human sweat glands. I need a lot more fun than that to get me excited.
We’ve got this exercise business all wrong, I think. Of course everyone knows we have to exercise our bones and muscles, heart and lungs to stay healthy and alive. We need exercise to stave off diseases like osteoporosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, obesity. So if we know we should, why do so many of us choose not to?
Somehow, exercise has become a science, an activity that belongs in a gym or on a sports field, separate from daily life, engineered by sports specialists and made way too complex and dreary for the average person.
Exercise is movement, done with vigour. Exercise is walking the dog, chopping wood, sweeping floors, gardening, playing frisbee with the kids, surfing, skiing, horse riding, tap dancing, hula hooping – anything that involves moving your whole body until you sweat. The gym is just an artificial environment designed to replicate all the movement and activity that once upon a time formed the daily rituals of life. Remote controls, keyboards and switches have changed forever the way human beings move. They have made movement almost optional.
The secret to getting enough exercise is to do what makes you feel good. Sitting on the couch, I’m afraid, doesn’t count, but if walking the dog is more enjoyable to you than trudging for an hour on a treadmill in a gym, walk the dog! Better still, take him for a run, walk him up hills, around town, up and down stairs, throw the ball for him and chase him down to fetch it. The dog will love it and you’ll be getting your prescribed dose of enjoyable activity without ever having to know what a Smith machine does or what a Spin class is. If you love the beach, make the most of it for your prescribed dose of exercise. Jump over waves, swim, surf, run along the sand and feel the wind in your hair.
Of course, there are gyms and there are gyms. I work in a city gym where you can take a ballet based class, work out in the park, do Japanese yoga, or bring your dog along to a bootcamp session. Needless to say, most of the members love going there for their daily dose of movement.
The secret to enjoying exercise is just that – enjoying it. The couch has been described as one of mankind’s most deadly inventions so treat it with great caution. Move away from it and go and do something that will get your legs and arms moving and make you break out in a sweat and a smile. Exhilarating, exciting, engaging activity disguised as exercise will help you have strong bones, big lungs, a healthy heart, and just as importantly – an expectation of fun, on a daily basis.
Once you start adding activity to your daily routine, you’ll also need to add some top quality fuel to your nutrition. Nature Bee has a whole range of deliciously potent supplements that will increase your energy, help your body deal with the stresses and strains of vigorous movement and help you recover quickly so you’re good to go again. Believe me, I’ve come across a lot of supplements in my line of work, but I believe in raw, natural foods. Bee pollen is 100% pure and natural, and it’s an ancient superfoodused by the very first Olympians! Google bee pollen and you’ll find lots of information, and if you want to buy the best, it doesn’t get any better than the Nature Bee products.
So till next time…keep moving to the beat of your own feet!
