The Four Pillars for Healthy Living — Exercise
Hi there, and welcome to Rich-Life. This post is the third part of a four-part series — The Four Pillars for Healthy Living. In this series, you’ll discover the four pillars that will lead you to a fitter, healthier life — together; we’ll cover off each pillar in detail, so let’s get started.
The four pillars for healthy living consist of:
If this is the first post you’re reading in this series — I’d recommend also taking a look at The Four Pillars for Healthy Living — Habits and The Four Pillars for Healthy Living — Nutrition for additional tips for healthy living.
Our third pillar for healthy living is exercise. Exercise makes you feel energised, is great for your mood and burns off some of those unwanted calories we’ve accumulated.
What is exercise?
To start our journey into exercise, let's break it down into three areas:
Inactivity
First of all, you have inactivity, often referred to as being sedentary — I’m confident you know what this means but for clarity, let’s look at some examples.
Being inactive or sedentary is simply engaging in any activity in which body movements are minimised. If you sit at a desk all day, you’re said to have a sedentary job. Other such activities include scrolling through your phone, watching TV, working at a computer, playing video games, driving, and reading.
It’s not that these activities are bad — they’re only bad if they make up 100% of your day.
Physical activity
Next up, you have physical activity, defined as any bodily movement produced by your muscles that require energy.
What we’re talking about here are everyday physical tasks such as walking, cleaning the house, cycling to work or doing your weekly food shopping — you get the idea.
Exercise
Finally, we have exercise, which is a subcategory of physical activity.
An activity can be considered exercise, if it is planned, structured, and aims to improve or maintain your physical fitness.
Examples of exercise include hobbies such as running, football, yoga, squash and swimming.
How do you get into exercise?
Getting into exercise is easy, you just need to find an activity that you enjoy that involves a bit of movement.
We’ll get stuck into the different forms of exercise you can do shortly, but first, let’s take a quick look at why people find themselves being inactive most of the time.
Finding the time
More often than not, people find themselves sedentary because they make excuses. How many times have you said to yourself:
- Maybe tomorrow?
- I’ll join that yoga class next week?
- I’d like to play five-a-side, it’s just not at a convenient time.
- I was going to go for a run — but now it’s raining outside.
The excuses can go on and on, you may not even realise you’re doing it.
However, the number one excuse is — I don’t have time!
Making excuses
Finding the time to exercise can be a contentious issue for some. You lead a busy life, you often work late, you have a family, and you need to clean the house — you can find a million reasons not to exercise.
However, there is always time. The biggest obstacle here is more likely to be planning and commitment. The two go hand in hand. When you commit to finding the time to exercise, you’ll be prepared to spend a little time planning your week.
You’ll soon see that there are pockets of time all over the place — I’m not suggesting it won’t take a little sacrifice, it will. But if you plan ahead and commit to turning up, you’ll be integrating exercise into your weekly routine before you know it.
For more tips on finding time to exercise, take a look at my previous blog, I don’t have time to exercise.
Do you have to join a gym?
Joining a gym can be a great way to kick start your exercise but it’s not for everyone.
You do not have to join a gym to add some meaningful exercise to your routine. Let’s take a look at some simple activities to get you started.
What exercise should you do?
Choosing which type of activity to include in your routine is a very personal choice and there are no right or wrong answers. The key is to move and use up energy. If you have an interest in yoga, do a yoga class. If you have an interest in swimming, do that.
Walking
If you’re just starting to include more activity into your routine, then consider something as simple as walking. Start with breaking your day up with a 10-minute walk. Then do it twice a day or slowly increase the duration of your walk.
Running
Looking to be a little more ambitious with your exercise? There are some great options if running is your thing.
Couch to 5K
First up, you have Couch to 5k. You’ll find several programmes for this, but I’ve linked the one on the NHS website. In a nutshell, the programme will take the non-runner on a progressive journey, building up to running 5k.
I’ve heard many glowing reviews of Couch to 5k from people who never thought they could run 1k, nevermind 5k.
Parkrun
Already capable of running a 5k, then consider turning up to a local parkrun. Parkrun is a fantastic event at which you’ll find runners of all abilities.
From runners at the beginning of their journey, completing the race in around 50 minutes, to elite runners smashing through the course in the 15-minute region.
You’ll always find someone close to your level, which can help motivate you to try and catch them. On top of this, parkrun records your time which means you always have your personal best time to improve upon at your next parkrun.
I’ve run 30–40 parkruns and they’re always run in a super friendly manner.
Running club
Maybe you’re a capable runner but need a little kick up the backside to get moving. You should consider joining a local running club.
I procrastinated for far too long before joining a running club but when I did, I absolutely loved it. More to the point, running became so much more enjoyable, it was easier to turn up to sessions, and best of all my times got faster and faster.
Joining a running club can feel daunting, I know because I put it off for so long. What if I’m the slowest runner? What if I can’t run far enough?
I’ve run with two running clubs, City Of Norwich Athletics Club (CONAC) and Wymondham Athletics club. Both clubs are fantastic at welcoming new members and go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. If running is your thing, joining a running club can add some structure, enjoyment and accountability to your running.
Home workouts
There are many different ways to exercise, and for some, you don’t even have to leave the house.
For example, a simple routine of 3–5 bodyweight exercises is a decent start to get you moving and burning off some energy.
Lunges, squats, jumping jacks, jogging on the spot, high knees and star jumps are just a few examples of the kind of exercises you can do right at home.
If you want more of a challenge, you could get yourself a set of dumbbells which will add resistance to your workout and open up even more possibilities for exercises.
Core workouts
Everyone should include at least one core workout a week in their routine. Working on your core really makes everyday life feel so much easier and if you already play a sport, improving the strength of your core will undoubtedly improve your performance.
Luckily for you, there are so many core exercises out there. On top of this, I have a YouTube playlist dedicated to core workouts that require no equipment at all, so you can get started today!
Making small changes will make a big difference over the longer term. Start by adding 10 mins of physical activity to your day. A walk, a jog, a swim or even some yoga, it really couldn’t be simpler.
As you start to adapt to more physical activity, consider increasing the duration of each session, or maybe a couple of sessions a week. Before you know it, you won’t know how you ever lived without exercise being an integral part of your life.
Final thoughts
You’ve just discovered the third of four pillars for healthy living — exercise.
Before you embark on your journey of increased exercise, remember that these changes don’t happen overnight.
Exercise plays a huge part in your mood and your health, so having a plan to fit it into your day is essential. Start off with small habits to really embed exercise into your routine.
Use the four laws from The four pillars for healthy living — habits to develop new exercise habits and consider the inversion of these laws to help break your habits of inactivity.
Be sure to enter your email below to subscribe, so that you don’t miss part four of the four pillars for healthy living — self development.
Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.
Originally published at https://www.rich-life.co.uk on September 20, 2020.
