What are our bodies made to do?
What is the one area that we have eliminated from our lives?
What is that missing piece?
As things advance in our world, movement is less and less necessary. We can get our groceries delivered, a robot will vacuum your house, and we can turn off the lights from our phones.
These advances are inevitable, and to be honest, quite impressive. The fact of the matter is, they allow us to be sedentary just about all day, and many people are taking advantage of that.
With the introduction of processed foods paired with inactive lifestyles, things have been trending in the wrong direction for overall health.
WE HAVE TO MOVE
It doesn’t have to be for 10 hours a day, but just a few hours of being on your feet can be a drastic change.
Think of your normal day:
Sitting in the car on the way to work
Sitting in a chair all day staring at a screen
Sitting in the car on the way home
Sitting at the dinner table
Sitting on the couch to unwind from the day
WE SIT ALL DAY
We are missing the movement piece.
It can help you de-stress, improve mood, increase blood flow, reduce joint pain, increase joint health, improve posture, alleviate cravings, and help you sleep.
We are made to be moving, the reason we are able to stand upright is so we STAND UPRIGHT. This capability is staring us in the face and we keep “walking” right by it.
Walking is the easiest and most available form of exercise.
Exercise does not have to be formal. We tend to think that going to the gym, going for a hike, doing a spin class, all have to be an “event”.
But just accumulating movement/steps every day can be a huge benefit to your health.
Movement is movement, if you did a one-hour walk, it would be similar to one hour of yard work or housework. Don’t overcomplicate things; everything counts as long as you are moving.
Get up, move around, do something productive.
There is a quote everyone’s heard:
“If you don’t use it, you lose it.”
I had an elderly person I was training and they were in talks of two knee replacements in the near future. They came to me with pain and swelling that was overtaking their joints.
After a few months of training the pain was alleviating and the swelling was decreasing.
They were sitting less, exercising every week, and going for walks on off days. For this person re-introducing good movement patterns and more activity into their life had everything moving in the right direction. Less pain, less swelling, more mobility, stronger joints, and we can’t overlook the psychological piece of how happy they were when things began to turn around.
After seeing great results for about a year, this person went to the doctor and came back with a strange message (this is where the quote will tie in). The doctor had told them to stop squatting, lunging, and to get off their feet for a few hours a day.
My mind was blown…
How can anyone eliminate these things from their life? Sitting down on the toilet is a squat, walking up stairs is a form of a lunge, and being on our feet is what we are made to do!
The premise of the doctors remarks were due to still wanting them to get their replacements. Less “joint damage” in their minds would allow them to recover faster.
She was ready to cancel her joint replacements after how good she was feeling and definitely was not ready to stop her momentum.
She GAINED the ability to do these things without pain by doing them more often.
If you stop doing the things, you will lose the ability to do them in the future.
In this case, she realized the importance of here daily activities and kept up with her daily movements. Little by little she surpassed where she was beforehand and happier than ever.
I know some people don’t have the whole day to devote to their body, so here are some ways to add movement into your busy schedule.
HOW TO ADD MOVEMENT INTO YOUR LIFE
1.) I mention this above but I will re-visit this topic, any type of movement is beneficial.
It’s not just about an hour dedicated to the gym or a walk – things such as yard work, housework, cleaning your car, painting, fixing something around the house. These are all a sure way to move your body each and every day while making the rest of your life easier.
2.) Build habits around movement.
10 minute walks after breakfast and dinner
Taking the long route to the bathroom at work
Standing for 1 minute every hour
Find places to create a habit around movement. Just think, you brush your teeth everyday because you have created a habit – the same can be true for movement.
3.) Create options for yourself while you are at work (or working from home).
Whether you are at home or in the office, find ways to move. You can set an hourly alarm that gets you up for a minute each hour.
Maybe you even get down and do a few squats, glute bridges, and planks.
Try not to let yourself sit in the same spot for more than an hour at a time. Whether you have to set an alarm, go get a new drink, or just change from sitting to standing, find a way to move!
There are people in this world whose lives have been changed just by adding some physical activity to their daily lives.
Everyone has their own goals in life. Most people want to be healthy, feel good, and move well for the rest of their life. This will not come easy, things DO get harder as the body ages. The overall worst thing we can do is STOP moving.
We are a product of our own environment; we want to make that environment as beneficial to our goals as possible.
The human body is made to move. So let’s find ways to start adding movement into our lives as often as we can.
In good health,
Jeff
