Move More Wrap-Up
KEY POINTS:
1. When you put your body through stress, such as exercise, it adapts and becomes stronger, faster, more efficient, more resilient, and healthier.
2. Push yourself to be 1% better each day: add in one more walk per week, get outside once per week, add in 15 minutes of stretching each day.
We’ve spent the last module focused on moving more. At the heart of my message lies a basic fact: our bodies are adaptation machines. Whenever our muscles are exposed to a level of effort or exertion just beyond their current limits, they register it as stress. They then respond by building new tissues that will be more capable of handling that particular stress next time.
We adapt and get stronger when we push past our current limits. But what does pushing yourself look like when you are not an elite athlete?
From my perspective, pushing yourself is simply about doing a bit more than you are doing already. Number one on the list is exercising regularly. If all you do is increase the number of walks you take from two to four in a week, you are extending your limits and improving your health. So run a bit longer, add a bit of weight, add in some intervals, stretch a little more. Do whatever is right for you to push yourself a bit more.
Remember the 7 keys to take your fitness to the next level:
1. Build your fitness. Training your aerobic system is the foundation of health and performance. Low to moderate physical activity such as walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, yoga, or even gardening will help to develop your cardiovascular fitness and endurance.
2. Build your strength. By performing strength training, you are working the full spectrum of your muscle fibres. This develops your total muscle strength and prepares your body for situations when you have to pick up the pace – like the final kick when the finish line comes into sight, or sprinting for a bus.
3. Build your speed. Remember that you have to go fast to get fast! By doing interval training, you’ll get fitter faster by doing a combination of fast/slow paces.
4. Build your mobility. Dynamic stretching (anything that stretches your muscle while moving) should be done before exercise as it increases blood flow, muscle temperature, and range of motion. Static stretching (holding your muscle in a stretch for a period of time) should be done after exercise as it helps to align muscles and reduce tension.
5. Move in nature. The benefits of exercising outdoors appear to last for at least a week - maybe even up to a month! So once per week (or at least once / month) spend some time outside doing something fun. Go hiking on a trail, go skiing, and the more you can immerse yourself in nature the better.
6. Be a 24-hour athlete. One of the greatest secrets to being stronger, swifter and fitter is to apply the science of recovery and regeneration.
7. Use it or lose it. Shortcuts never work for the human body. Short-term bursts of stimulus usually cause problems and make us injured or sick. Spread the same amount of signal over time and the body will get stronger and healthier. Consistency is the key.
Exercise will help you achieve your dreams, whatever they are. And if you think you can’t fit it into your life, you’re lying to yourself. It’s just not true. You’re putting up resistance for reasons only you can know. Forget about listing all the obstacles to moving more and focus instead on achieving your own version of greatness.
It might be helpful to print out the images below and put them up on your fridge or somewhere where you can easily see them.
This Week’s Exercise: Find an accountability partner
This week your challenge is to find an accountability partner to help you stay consistent! Here are a couple things to keep in mind:
Find an appropriate partner. This can be a friend, family member, a group of friends, or even a person who you met through an online fitness class. Whoever it is, you should choose someone who is at a similar fitness level or who at least has similar goals as you. For example, it’s okay if your partner is a faster runner than you, provided you are both committed to encourage each other to run a few times per week.
Make sure you’re messaging this partner (or partners) when you accomplish something - and vice versa. Encourage each other to get out there and reach your goals. And if you don’t hit your goal that day, that’s okay too. The point is to lift each other up, as opposed to create guilt or shame for not accomplishing your goal.
Keep each other in the loop. We’ve discussed the importance of creating a weekly plan to help you stick with your fitness routine. That way you treat exercise the same way you would treat a doctor’s appointment or work meeting. But it’s also important to keep your accountability partner in the loop. It might be helpful to go over your plan and goals with each other at the start of each week.
Have fun!
Bonus Exercise: Start, Stop, Continue
Now that you’ve completed the module, is there a habit or routine that you would like to start? Is there a habit that you would like to stop? Is there a habit that you would like to continue? Write these down on page 36 of The Ripple Effect Workbook.
The information and advice provided in this program is intended to assist you with improving your performance, as well as your general health. It is not intended and should not be used in place of advice from your own physician or for treatment or diagnosis of any specific health issue. By participating in this program you acknowledge that undertaking any new health, diet and/or exercise regime involves certain inherent risks, that you assume such risks, and that you release Wells Performance Inc. from any responsibility or claim relating to such participation.