Making time for fitness
Do you make time to brush your teeth? Do you make time to shower? Do you make time for exercise?
I’m hoping for a hat trick here but roughly 78% of the population doesn’t meet the national guidelines for physical activity.
I attended a Chamber of Commerce event in Santa Monica the other night and met an injury attorney. He mentioned he used to work out but now with a new marriage, two young kids, and work, he has no time for it. He added that when he was younger he “could get away with it”.
I believe a few things need to shift with the current mindset around exercise:
- Getting by without exercise
This is a common sentence that people express about not exercising at an earlier age. I don’t agree with it on several levels. Most people don’t realize that when they were younger they were probably a lot more active than they remember. From ages 16 to 26 you go out dancing, attend school and college, you probably had to walk around campus, met up with friends to walk around the mall, and so on. Although not quite exercise, it is probably more physical activity that you might be getting now.
When people use the sentence “getting by without exercise” they imply not gaining weight despite the lack of moving around. However, weight loss is only one small benefit of exercise, so even though you may avoid gaining weight, you’re definitely avoiding all the other benefits such as gaining strength, balance, motor skills, increased blood circulation, pulmonary capacity, mental focus, combatting depression, anxiety, reducing risks of Alzheimer’s, and the list is endless.
You’re not really getting away with anything. Maintaining a certain weight does not mean your body composition is not deteriorating. Muscle follows the simple “use it or lose it” rule. If you’re not using it, you’re definitely losing it. Maybe not as prominent when younger, and if you’re active with dancing and walking around a lot, you may be in a maintenance state. The body adapts quickly, however, so if you’re not making those activities more intense or longer, or more frequent, you won’t be getting the same benefits over time.
Just like not being able to get away without brushing your teeth, or showering, you’re also not really getting away without exercising.
- Not having enough time to exercise
We all know we should eat healthily and exercise. No news there. Yet 78% of the population is not dedicating enough time to exercise. What can go wrong?
There’s an old cartoon from illustrator Randy Glasbergen that is very fit for this blog:
The cartoon exaggerates the impending doom of death but it is not far from reality when it comes to other medical conditions. For many years, I worked at a diabetes center. My patients’ stories are all individual, but the common theme is a lack of regular exercise. It is never too late, and I’ve seen people drastically transform their lives and bodies even later in life. However, the more you put off making exercise a habit, the more issues accumulate, and your options for adequate physical activities dwindle. Many of my patients were type 2 diabetic, but I also saw people with prediabetes, hypothyroidism, PCOS, and other endocrinology issues. The further along they were in life carrying these issues the more barriers they faced. When you are healthy without any aches or pains, you can go for a run, attend any boutique fitness studio class, play sports, jump rope, and basically do anything you want.
If you have diabetes, knee pain, and balance issues, your options for appropriate exercise become limited.
Solutions:
- Mindset: I understand how tricky it is to make time for something that is hard and requires some willpower. I’m a trainer, and I was always active playing basketball from a young age, and even I struggle many times with exercising.
My solution has been to shift my mindset about it and see exercise as another activity that requires attention on a daily basis, just like showering and brushing my teeth. You don’t need any motivation to shower, you probably do it as part of a routine. In fact, next time you’re waiting for the shower water to warm up, perform 10 squats. You’re now creating a new habit inside an existing one.
- EMS fitness: I mentioned the dwindling options and barriers you may have around exercising consistently. Electro muscle stimulation helps overcome many of those obstacles by being low-impact and joint-friendly. This means that you can still get stronger despite your knee pain because you won’t need to fully extend your joints to reap the benefits of the stimulation. It is also a short 20-minute workout so time constraints are minimized. You’ll have a dedicated trainer to help with motivation and help guide you to create other healthy habits.
Exercise doesn’t have to be long, intense, and challenging. It sometimes can be short, relaxing, and fun.
If you are interested in learning if EMS fitness would be a good option for you, book a free consultation with me here: https://calendly.com/conradfitness/30min
Conrad
Director of Education and Technology
Bodybuzz
Bodybuzz combines Certified Personal Training with Electrical Muscle Stimulation, giving your body a deeper, safer, and more effective workout. 20 minutes twice a week is all it takes!
Our personal trainers will guide you through a custom EMS workout designed specifically for you. Whether you’re looking to build strength, lose weight, get toned, or recover from an injury or illness, we offer a safe, low-impact solution to help get you there.
EMS has now been FDA-cleared for use in the US and we are proud to be one of the first companies to introduce this technology. It is a full-body workout that uses a special muscle stimulating suit that sends low-level impulses to your major muscle groups to trigger muscle contractions. It’s a unique sensation that is painless and invigorating. EMS workouts are designed to achieve optimal conditioning, burn fat, develop strength, build muscle, tighten skin, combat cellulite, jump-start your metabolism and restore your body’s natural balance.