Exercise

You’ve got to move!

We all know we should – but how many of us do? Exercise is an area, where for most people, it would seem to be difficult to be consistent or committed. The most common excuse is “I don’t have time”. Does this sound like you?

Our lives are busy (or we feel like they are). But, I would ask you how many hours a week you sit in front of the TV, or on the computer aimlessly surfing the net or playing games. Be honest – at least to yourself! To keep reasonably healthy, a very conservative recommendation is half an hour, three times a week minimum. I may get myself in trouble here, but there is no one on the planet that can not find an hour and a half a week! It just comes down to priority. If you make your health more important than watching the telly, then you’ll do it.  (It’s the same with money – whatever we make a priority we can afford – whether that is the best health products – or cigarettes and alcohol!)

More is of course better, and in my view, I feel that it really needs to be at least 30 to 60 minutes 4 or 5 times a week – minimum and even that time can be found or created by anyone. We all have the same amount of hours in the day and you can’t tell me that you are busier than for instance the president of the USA or someone like Donald Trump and they find time to exercise!

You can make any excuse that you like, but that’s all it is – excuses – not reasons.

Our bodies were designed to move. When we don’t move, our body becomes stagnant – just like a pool of water that does not flow or move. Our lymph system which carries wastes from the tissues is pumped by the movement of our muscles. If our muscles don’t move, our lymph system does not work. Our body becomes stagnant, gets aches and pains and gradually seizes up.

Exercise causes feel good hormones to be released, relieving stress and making us feel GOOD. It helps to keep our body strong, and young. Exercise can help to reverse many health issues. It helps to keep the tissues oxygenated with fresh blood pumping through the body by a good strong heart and lungs. Exercise can resolve aches and pains, including the so very common back pain. I have heard so many times over the years as a therapist that “my crook back, (neck, knees or whatever) were caused by my playing rugby, (hockey, running, swimming or whatever) when I was young” – however I would dare say that these aches and pains are more to do with the lack of exercise over the past 20 or 30 years, rather than the exercise that was done when one was young and fit! These are purely excuses to avoid doing exercise now.

We also hear the comments that go like this – “I knew this fellow who was as fit as a fiddle, always running and exercising and then he just dropped dead one day of a heart attack – didn’t do him much good did it now?”. The answer to that is nutrition (or lack of!) which goes hand in hand with exercise. If someone is fit, but isn’t getting enough vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, then their body will deteriorate and chances are that they will still end up with cardiovascular disease or cancer or whatever in the end, but it will probably just take longer to appear than it would have otherwise, and they will, of course, have a better quality of life up until that time beacause they are fit and at least feeling healthy! More exercise creates more waste products that our body has to deal with and more free radicals. This is why excellent nutrition and top quality supplements with vitamins, minerals and antioxidents in forms that are easily used by the body are essential, and even more so for those engaging in extreme or large amounts of exercise. If you are doing a lot of exercise, or competing in demanding sports and not taking quality supplements that your body can use easily, then you are doing yourself damage and chances are you are setting yourself up to be one of those statistics that people refer to in the argument mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph!

So, when it comes to exercise we can continue to make excuses or we can learn to influence ourselves and find some form of exercise that we enjoy and then make it a habit! Once we make it a habit, then it becomes part of our lives and I know that I miss it when I don’t exercise for a few days – I feel like a stagnant pool of muck!

As with other areas of our lives, if we don’t exercise – we will suffer the consequences. No one else. I know that I love being able to run, and to feel strong and fit. In the past 15 years I have never stopped exercising completely, but I do have times, depending on what’s going on in my life, when I’m a little less into it than other times and when I get a bit slack for a while and I start to lose that strength and fitness and gain a bit of weight, I don’t like the feeling. It’s much easier to be fit and healthy than it is to be unfit and unhealthy, even tho it does take some commitment and self discipline.

To be the best you can be, you must exercise. Plain and simple! Anyone who does not do so is kidding themselves and will never be all that they can. We can not ever function as we should with a stagnant, unfit body – no way! For our mind and our emotions to work properly, our body must be functioning well and that won’t happen without exercise. We’re all connected – our mind, our body and our spirit. To be all we can, all areas must be functioning well and it is no one’s responsibility to look after you – but you! You are the only one that can do that job.

Take pride in yourself. Decide to be the best you can be – the best Mum or Dad, the best employee, boss or business partner, the best wife, husband, lover. Be the best you that you can be – to do that you have to make a committment to yourself and those you love to do what it takes to look after you.

Find something you like to do and do it – whether it’s walking, running, swimming, rollerblading, competing in sports or triathlon or riding your bike, skateboarding, hiking or dancing. You’ve got to move!