Here at FitFarms weight loss and fitness retreat we feel one major reason for all the confusion around what is right and what is wrong with regards to achieving your goals/targets is that we don’t actually know! The conditioned thinking is that there is a one size fits all approach and so we don’t think too much about what “losing weight” or “getting fit” actually means to us. But we have options! Different ways of achieving our goals some more effective and some less but if we don’t consider our options we will never know which way suits us best.
So if you have time sit down and think to yourself “what kind of exercise or activity would I PREFER?” If I had the option? Then take a look at my explanations below to see if you can start to form a concept of what you would actually enjoy doing instead of what you need to do.
Exercise vs Activity vs Movement
So first of all exercise is not natural or functional.. whatever equipment or adaption we use. At no point when squatting down to pick up your shopping or an item of the floor do you intend on doing it 8-15 times and then repeating after a pre selected rest time.
Exercise is a way of improving the performance of your physical structure or the neurological management of said structure. It just so happens that the more honed the bodies systems the better it should in theory look and feel.. so we associate exercise with improving aesthetically but it’s not always so.
Activity is more natural, when you think of activity what springs to mind? Sports? Walking? Swimming? Bike riding? It challenges the body’s ability to adapt to unknown external variables like uneven ground, a hill, water resistance or even wind resistance. Exercise relies on restricting the variables so that pure performance can be improved I.e. Typically 1 or 2 planes of movement, fixed positions or machines. We find it easier to run on a treadmill because once we are used to it the pace and incline are preset and we are in control of any changes to that, where as activities typically are not so controlled so our bodies and brains become more adaptive. A rugby player may be more powerful and stronger on the pitch or in circumstances where a movement must be adapted but a weightlifter or power lifter would be stronger/fitter on gym equipment.
And then there is movement. A way of maintaining the bodies and the brains ability to adapt to everyday life. Things like hip mobility, correcting posture, improving freedom of movement through all planes and axis, an understanding of how the body is designed and using movements to help maintain a greater quality of life better neural function it involves less stress on the physical and neural functions of the body but helps to balance and correct issues born of improper function, imbalance and historical overuse. It could be as little as 20 minutes morning stretches and mobilisers to as much as a complex movement challenge using hand to eye coordination and in even load and all three planes of movement but it doesn’t need to be physically stressful.
So before deciding what your routine should look like consider the above explanations and which you like the sound of best?
Image Credit: www.pinterest.com.au/explore/motivational-fitness-quotes/
