Physical Activity
The journey, not just the results!
When it comes to physical activity, people have a hard time finding a way to commit. Exercising is one of those things that are easier said than done. How is that possible if the human body's structural design aims to support the rigorous and multidimensional movement? Shouldn't it come naturally to exercise?
Everybody wants the benefits of committing to exercise but lacks the know-how to commit to the journey of exercising. Why? Physical activity is considered the quick fix.
Have a hard time accepting that statement? It sounds like a contradiction, right? But think about it, What are the reasons people ponder an exercise regimen?
To lose weight to look good at a particular event.
A health scare.
A cultural trend.
Physical activity or exercising partakes as a quick fix to a momentary inconvenience. It's rarely a long-term goal. Once you lose the extra pounds, the health markers fall back on track, or the hashtag is irrelevant, the physical activity shifts priority on the agenda until it's non-existent. You know by now the next step of this cycle.
But you can change that. This blog's objective is to get you to define physical activity as a sustainable journey. It's possible! Below are a few simple shifts to balance your lifestyle and make exercising a pillar of healthy living. Easy said and done!
Stop using Exercising as a Quick Fix!
While exercising addresses and fixes many problems in life, seeing it as a quick fix is incorrect. When you embrace physical activity, you should accept it's an endurance discipline. It takes your body from one stage to another, a change that will coherently meet your needs and your circumstances. Now, it's also somewhat elastic. The progress is sabotaged or staggered the minute you stop engaging.
It is wise to have a reason or a way to connect purpose to the goal. But if the reason for your effort is temporary, you'll reap momentary results. It's not the action of exercise itself but the context that's a quick fix.
If you want to exercise to get abs, what happens with the discipline once you achieve it?
If you use physical activity to meet a certain weight for a particular event, what happens with the discipline when the event is over?
Exercise is not a quick fix. Implementing physical activity could bring long-lasting results and truly change the course of your well-being. But if used to address momentary inconvenience instead of long-term well-being the benefits have an expiration date. The best part? You get to choose how to leverage physical activity!
Consistency + Flexibility = Active Lifestyle
Now to ditch that 'exercise is my quick fix' mentality, there are two concepts to explore. Consistency & flexibility. Yes, the concepts are not easily connected. To some of you, they may even sound like contradictory terms. But that funky connection is the jam, the gray area where balance and proper use of physical activity reside.
The name of the game is consistency. Not in the sense of rigid perfection but in the adherence to the same principle. It's the commitment to embrace physical activity every day to honor your body's movement needs. However, that fits your needs and circumstances.
It's the consistency to make it a priority, not just when it fits the schedule or when there is energy to endure it. Here is when the second concept comes to play - Flexibility, the mindset tool to get it done.
It's a flexibility that allows you to support your goals to be consistent with physical activity regardless of the less-than-ideal context. It's a flexible mindset that takes the pressure of perfection off the table but supports commitment. It's is understanding that not every day you have the energy to do a 50+ minutes workout routine, but you can choose not to be stagnant for more than an hour. Flexibility enables you to do yoga one month, then HITT workout the next. But never quit embracing the active lifestyle.
What happens when these two concepts are part of the formula?
When you approach the physical activity with a flexible mindset, moving your body consistently becomes an enjoyable experience. As a consequence, a sustainable action. More on this in the blog post Body Movement.
Now let's say you need to fine-tune your regimen because of a particular health or physical appearance goal, with commitment & flexibility in the equation, your progress is not staggered once you reach the goal. On the contrary, it builds upon it allowing you to reach beyond your thought potential.
Is this not better than a quick fix?
Shifts to embrace an Active Lifestyle
Try these shifts adapting them to your circumstances and stages of movement. Be creative & patient!
If you need guidance or accountability to commit to an active lifestyle reach out! At times is not just the approach to moving the body, other factors may be at play. Let's jump into a Discovery Session and explore all the possibilities to sustain your health journey even when the context is less than ideal.
From my journey to yours
Active Lifestyle > Quick Fix
In the past 3 years, I've redefined my relationship with exercise numerous times. Yet it's the first time in my life I honestly feel I have an active lifestyle. I have gone from having no energy or will to commit to daily 10 minute walks to achieving a 6-day strike of 45+ mins workouts.
All because I define body movement with flexibility & consistency. I stopped using exercise as a quick fix to change the number on the scale or to meet a momentary standard. For me, the goal for my physical activity is long-lasting and stable well-being. It's not just for good health now, but for good health when I'm 80+ years old.
Heck, I'm even celebrating my 33rd birthday by honoring my body's ability to move, heal, grow and get stronger every day. It's a challenge to do 33 different body movement activities during April. Is it perfect? No. Is it effective for me? 100%. You can have that too if you choose to! Try it!
Until Next One!
Stay happy, stay healthy, Stay BALANCED,
