Moving pixels and throwing shapes: how exercise has made me a better designer

The benefits of exercise are well-known and the fitness industry is growing more than ever. I’m pretty sure that the majority of my colleagues here in the Idean London studio take up some sort of physical exercise as part of their weekly routine. The culture of our studio is pretty ‘hip and healthy’ — we have fresh fruit available in our kitchens, a great mental health policy in place and a qualified colleague has run the odd yoga sessions in the studio. Personally, physical exercise has become a large part of my daily life and I’m fully embracing the benefits of it in and outside of work — but it hasn’t always been so.

I was never the sporty type at school nor particularly enjoyed the PE lessons. I dreaded the annual sports day and when puberty hit, I became increasingly self-conscious of my body shape. I wouldn’t have believed it if you had told my younger self that I would come to love exercise and go the gym most days.

So how did a self-conscious girl come to love exercise? I first entered the gym the year I graduated university. This was the year of the financial crisis.

Fresh out of uni, graduates were wandering their way around London like lost lambs trying to find a place who would take them on for an internship. It was TOUGH. Finding a place that will let you gain some experience was incredibly difficult, let alone obtaining a job. After spending a few months building my portfolio website, sending out emails to all the agencies, I found myself pressing the refresh button on my email every 5 minutes — waiting to see if I had received any replies from potential employers. With each rejection, unsuccessful interview and empty inbox, I was losing hope. Of course with no income and low mood I became reluctant to step out of the house and meet friends; because traveling out to see them for some kind of social activity required; money. I was still living at home and my mother had noticed how reclusive I was becoming.

My mother, who had been a member of a local gym for a few years, persuaded me to give the gym a try to give myself a breather. My growing frustrations, bored of staying at home, and along with a bit of an ever-present desire to lose some weight I decided to give it a go. How did I find it?

I HATED IT

Everyone else seemed to know what they were doing, they seemed to ‘get it’. At first I kind of floated around, mostly sticking to the treadmill and then venturing onto other machines a few minutes at a time. I then plucked enough courage to join the classes — this was a game changer.

Although at first I was the one hiding behind at the back of the class struggling to follow and coordinate my body, within a few months time I noticed how I was getting better at controlling how my body moves. I thought to myself that if I gave it my all in the classes, not worried about how I looked, I would look like I knew what I was doing whilst probably burning a few more calories than my fellow classmates. I had changed my mindset.

This worked. As my muscles became accustomed to the repeated basic moves, I made the movements bigger to make it more physically challenging and with that, caught the attention of the instructors and the occasional shout-outs of praise during the classes. I even had compliments from fellow classmates. I found the praises were embarrassing at first but it did wonders for my morale. I became someone who got to classes early so I could get the front row spot. Bang in centre. I became friends with the regular attendees, and we even began to socialise together outside the gym. The friends I had made there were people I wouldn’t typically come across in my social circle; students, mothers and people much older than my parents.

The gym eventually became a habit, a part of my lifestyle; it was a place that allowed me to expend some extra energy (especially when I had been sitting down for the whole day); a place to relieve my stress and anger by taking it out in a class, and a channel to focus and distract my thoughts when work was tough. The endorphins I’ve got from a good workout got me hooked.

Whilst I still have days where I struggle with my body image, I no longer exercise just to lose weight. It’s a way to challenge myself physically and mentally. I really feel the benefits of it in my everyday life.

So how do I see the benefits in the workplace?

Given that a third of our life is spent working, it makes sense that you need to create a happy lifestyle that allows you to perform your best. Here’s a few changes I’ve noticed personally since taking up exercise as a routine.

• I am less stressed
  I face challenges with a calm attitude and don’t get stressed too easily. I think of practical steps to overcome the walls or hoops of fire rather than jump into a state of despair. It has been proven that regular exercisers have more grey matter in the prefrontal cortex, which governs stress-management. We know that stress can manifest your well-being but did you know stress also affects your memory?
• My posture has improved
  If you regularly weight train or do yoga, you know what I mean. With these exercises, you become aware of engaging specific muscles as you perform the exercises. A lot of the compound weight training will require you to perform the exercises with a straight back and engage your core muscles; hence the muscle memory from the exercises has naturally made me conscious of my posture during everyday life.
• I hardly ever get ill
  I may have just jinxed that! But in the past 12 months, I have only taken 2 days off work for being ill. This is remarkable as when I was younger, I was one of those kids who always seemed to catch every trending strain of cold viruses!
• My brain is constantly challenged in new ways
  Meaning by doing exercise, my cognitive function improves as my brain is constantly making new cells. How cool is that? Now I can’t prove that my brain is sprouting new cells at lightning speed but I like to think so! When I learn a new dance routine in my class, it is different to say, learning something from a book or website as you may do at work. With copying and learning movement, you take in the inputs from what you see, hear and feel from your brain and let it flow to your muscles. Making it a routine to switch and adapt to the different modes of input and stimuli helps me thrive in different environments. And guess what, there is research to back that dancing will reduce the risk of dementia.
• Better mood and focus
  All the natural endorphins released during exercise helps me take a mental break and reset each day. There’s even research that says 12% of cases of depression could be prevented with an hour of exercise each week. Results also showed that people who reported doing no exercise at all at baseline had a 44% increased chance of developing depression compared to those who were exercising one to two hours a week.

I also see the parallels and differences between exercise and work life

With exercise you can see or feel progress quickly and results are more tangible but the expressions can also apply to work.

• You fail fast, and it’s totally ok to do so
  Our industry often encourages us to fail fast in our work. But for many, this comes with risk, and it can be daunting, terrifying even. With exercise, when you fail e.g. not being able to lift the weight you think you could, or mis-stepping a dance routine, there’s nothing really that is on the line apart from a little self pride — unless you hurt yourself (yikes!). With exercise, the failure is instant and it’s quicker to get back on your feet again. If the work we do is broken down into more manageable smaller chunks, accept that failure can happen at anytime and there are strategies for us to make a comeback, maybe we won’t fear it so much.
• Practice makes perfect
  As old as this saying is, it’s true. Some people may naturally get it, and for some it can take longer — it’s different for everybody. But with coaching, some feedback from peers, a few trials and errors tailored for the individual, you can nail it.
  With exercise you can obtain “perfection” because you set aside times to practice it and there are known techniques to fix issues. The same can be applied to work.
  Let’s say you want to get better at presenting. How would you go about it? Step one could be practicing aloud on your own. Step two would be asking a colleague to see if they can volunteer to listen in on your presentation and provide feedback, and then finally find the opportunity to do the presentation to implement the feedback. If I was to do this, I will probably practice at least 40 times before I deliver. Perhaps it will take 40 times of practicing before I even do a dry-run with a colleague, and another 40 times before I feel ready to do the real thing.
  Beyoncé wasn’t built in a day.
• Gain and share
  No, I don’t mean that once you know what you’re doing you can go round and tell people they’re not doing it right! What I mean is there is value in sharing what you have learnt and experienced. For instance, if you perform any given exercise with good form, it will be easier for other people to see and pick up how it should be performed. If you make a habit of putting equipment away after you use it, others will notice and follow suit. Even just talking about your passion for exercise will inspire others to get active as well.
  At work, you can demonstrate what you have learnt; skills, successes and failures, and this will improve the relationship between you and your colleagues, making it into a more inclusive and happier workplace.

If you’re willing to give exercise ago, what would I recommend to help you get started?

I really see the benefits of exercise and I can see why people might take a while to get into it. It took me a while too.

Have fun trying out new things
Find what you enjoy so it sticks. If it’s not enjoyable, try out something else. If it’s too easy, look for new challenges. You can try out classes at your local gym or give something like Classpass a go. Or go and experience what running outside is like or sign up for a free class in your city. Perhaps you’ll be more comfortable in following a beginner’s yoga flow on YouTube from your own home.

If you’re too scared to join a class, gym or go exercise outside…
…because you’re worried about what people are going to think of you, don’t-they won’t even notice you. And if they did, so what? Everyone was a beginner at one point.

What doesn’t break you make you stronger!

Start out with something easy, and then build up
For example, if you want to improve your mental clarity; take a walk out every lunchtime. Choose to walk home. If you want to improve your fitness, try a 5 minute run on a weekend and see if you can add on another 5 minutes next time round and make it into a game - you’ll feel instantly better for it. Once you experience endorphins, you’ll feel so much better, and hooked. It’s a free drug.

What’s the worst that can happen? Never knowing because you didn’t try.

Just do it.