There’s always a new exercise routine hanging out on the front of grocery store magazines–new regimes that guarantee weight loss, or more energy, or better muscle tone, but sometimes pushing for that extra set of sit-ups, or that extra few metres on a run does a lot more harm than good. When we exercise to reach a certain quantity of reps, or a length of cardio endured sometimes we lose sight of our body’s natural signals to take it easy, or even to stop when we’ve had enough. In the article below, Dr. Bristow discusses the importance of a healthy approach to physical activity and offers a few mindsets that may help you to progress your body rather than push it too hard.
We all know how important exercise is to our health. When used appropriately, it has numerous benefits and can even reverse disease. There isn’t a single condition that does not benefit from exercise to some degree. But, it’s all dependent on how, when, and how “hard” you exercise that determines this benefit. We all have different needs when it comes to the type, frequency, duration, and intensity of exercise. One size does not fit all! Beyond that, I challenge you to evaluate if your exercise routines are serving your long-term health goals.
“What am I doing this for?”
I think we can all agree that none of us exercise to injure ourselves, yet exercise-related injuries occur way too frequently. Whether it’s something more serious like a torn ligament or simply knee pain the next day, these are signs you have overdone it. Accidents happen, of course, but it’s our ego that plays the biggest role in acquiring injuries from exercise. The ego is defined as a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance. Thus, our ego may cloud our judgement and make us think we are capable of more than we really are in an attempt to obtain immediate results. This is what leads to injury.
There are two important things to keep in mind when finding balanced exercise:
1. Exercise for a purpose not a goal
When it comes to exercise, having a purpose–a compelling reason that motivates you to get out there and move your body–is what keeps you from giving up. We rely on that reason to help us take action and to continue doing so. Exercise goals are usually determined by our ego and will typically send us to the medicine cabinet in search of Advil–or Turmeric, if you have seen one of the practitioners here at the clinic. As mentioned before, these ego-driven exercise goals are often short-lived and shortcuts that may even hinder our progress towards the true purpose behind our exercise.
Let’s look at some common examples of compelling reasons for why we exercise:
- “To have more energy throughout the day”
- “To stay healthy and strong so I can look after and play with my kids”
- “To lose weight so I feel comfortable and confident all summer”
- “To be active during pregnancy so labour and recovery is as easy as possible” (that’s mine!)
You can see right away that compelling reasons are typically about feeling good, staying healthy, feeling confident and happy. They are not about hitting a particular exercise goal. In fact, the thing we want most out of our exercise can be sabotaged by our ego. Trying to attain a particular exercise goal above all else can set us back and discourage us from doing physical activity.
For example: “my goal is to lose weight so that I feel comfortable and confident all summer.” You are in a one hour exercise class… it seems to be going well, but it’s pretty intense, and you start to feel a pain in your knee at the 45 minute mark. You think to yourself “ah well, it’s just some pain and I only have 15 minutes left. I’ll just push through and it will probably go away.” By the end of class, your knee is quite sore, and by that evening, you have already been icing it and have taken a pain killer.
The following morning, you are having trouble walking on it. You certainly cannot exercise for the next few days since you can barely put pressure on it to walk. If you are lucky, young, and a speedy healer, you might be back at it in a few days. If not, you could be in for a couple weeks of little to no exercise while you recover. You feel discouraged and end up eating poorly all the while not exercising, and you actually gain a bit of weight. You feel pretty disappointed in yourself, so your self-confidence plummets–the main thing your compelling reason was all about!–and you are no longer helping yourself.
This leads to point number two:
2. Exercise goals are strangely at odds with long term progress.
You can see in the above example how the long-term progress of weight loss was put on hold due to an overuse injury. The ego-driven goal of completing the one hour exercise class caused a setback in long term progress; despite a clear message from the body to stop, the goal won out.
But it’s even worse: not only was there a physical setback, there’s also a mental component to overcome after this. You may feel angry, frustrated, disappointed, or even pity for your situation. You stop exercising for a while until you feel bad about letting yourself down and eventually work up the energy to reclaim your motivation based on your compelling reason and you start all over again.
This cycle ultimately takes time away from improving our long-term health and has repercussions on our sense of self-worth. The reality is that we all do this: it’s how we learn to listen to our bodies and respect where we’re at.
When it comes to finding balanced exercise, you’ll need three things:
- A compelling reason that drives your purpose and gives you motivation
- A reasonable plan that respects your current physical ability and health status, and that honours your compelling reason
- A willingness to be flexible with your plan in order to make long term progress. Listening to your body along the way and making adjustments so you can keep moving forward and not get sidelined by a rigid adherence to your plans
For help with any of this, you might consider booking an appointment with me here. In any case, I hope you’ve found this article helpful!