Exercise Pep Talk

 

 

Hey there, Mary. Sheila here from  BioYouth labs and I want to talk about exercise today.

 It's such an important topic for me because I know it's an important topic for you too. 

When I work with clients, exercise often seems to be the thing that can slip away.

We put all these things in place with food, but  then notice, they’re not moving and not exercising. 

And as much as I am into health and Wellness, this is also a place I struggle. I love to move and exercise but sometimes I realize I didn’t take time during the day to move. 

And I know, it can be hard to stay moving. There are people that are moving all the time, you know who they are, and you might be one of them, but you also might be one of those people that knows they need to move their body. 

So I'm here to give you a little pep talk.

A few years ago I was reading something from a trainer and one of the things that he said really jumped out at me and I will never forget it. He said, “As we age, people can live by themselves on their own until they cannot squat down and sit on a toilet and then get back up.” 

When you lose that mobility, and you need help with those day-to-day bodily functions, that can change everything. 

So that really got me and that really made me realize how important it is that we build and develop and continue to keep and maintain muscles in our core and move from our core. 

A strong core also helps us to not hurt our back. We can strain muscles in our back because we're using our external muscles rather than our core muscles and our pelvic floor. It’s essential to learn how to use those muscles when we move so that when we move, we bend our knees and pick things up. 

I know that there's wear and tear as a result of life;  there's accidents, and all kinds of things that can make it hard for us to move. But ultimately we want to continue to maintain our muscle mass, especially in our core and our skeletal muscles that wrap around all of our bones. When they are strong, our bones are going to be stronger. So it is such an important part of the equation in keeping and maintaining our body for longevity.

Let's face it, we're sitting more these days. If we're working a desk job, we're sitting more. If we're retired, we might be sitting more. There's a lot of different reasons we might be sitting more. We have to get up and move. We have to make an effort. 

If it helps you to have a little tracker to track your steps, great. Get one of those and calculate your steps. Try to get at least 10,000 steps. If it helps you to join a gym, to walk with a friend, to do things that you love, that you've always loved, do them. 

If you don't love the gym, don't say, “Well, I guess I'll join a gym”, do what you love instead. Do what feels right. Personally, I feel really good when I get up in the morning and  exercise first thing. Lately it's been doing a workout video and I have learned to love it. I'm getting cardio and weights in because I want to build and maintain muscle.I know how important that is for bone health and for aging. There's something called sarcopenia, which is a loss of muscle mass, and that's dangerous, we don't want to lose too much. It’s natural that we loose some as we age, but we need to actively work to maintain our muscles. 

For me, doing a workout in the morning is a great way to start the day, I feel great. I feel stronger, and then anything else that I do in the day is just extra. I might walk my dog, work out in my garden, walk with a friend later, or ride my bike.

I want to challenge you to start moving every day. 

I want you to take a pen and a piece of paper, and I want you to make a commitment to yourself. Your chances of accomplishing that goal are going to go way up than if you just sit there and say, “yeah, I should exercise more”. I want you to write down exactly what you are going to do and when are you going to do it? Write down the details, what time, when, and with whom? 

Make a plan. 

Put it somewhere that you're going to see it and be reminded. Share it with somebody. If you live by yourself, take a picture and send that picture to somebody and say, hey, this is what I'm going to do  

OK, that's my pep talk. I hope it's helpful for you to hear. And please reach out if you have any questions or tips around what works for you for exercise. I'd love to hear from you. And I hope you have a great day.