If movement could be bottled and sold in pill form it would be a trillion-dollar blockbuster drug—used for everything from enhancing performance to improving well-being to preventing and treating disease.
The Practice of Groundedness- Brad Stulberg
Investing in movement- A good way to look at movement is like an investment in our future selves. We wouldn’t expect a healthy bank account balance in the future if we had made no financial investments in the past? So why would we expect any physical health benefits in the future if we haven’t invested in movement in the here and now?
Would we sit by and let our dog become inactive, gaining weight by the day through over eating, slowly becoming more infirm and costing us a fortune in vets bills? So why would we do that to ourselves?
Movement & mental health- Numerous studies have demonstrated that exercise improves not only our physical health but also our mental health. When we move, our brain releases endorphins that block pain and increase the sensations of pleasure. In addition, any form of exercise also produces dopamine which plays an important role in how we feel pleasure. Dopamine is also responsible for other processes in your body, such as regulating our heart rate, sleep cycles, mood, attention, motivation, working memory and learning. Regular movement and exercise also promotes neuroplasticity- or our brains ability to change an adapt. This plays a huge role in learning new skills, activities, and languages.
Movement & heart health- Heart disease is the world's biggest killer. Currently in the UK, 7.6 million people are living with the effects of coronary heart disease, with 460 people dying each day because of it. Regular movement can reduce the risks of having a heart problem in the first place, reduces the chance of difficulties if you have a heart problem and reduces the need for medication for heart complaints. Regular daily movement increased blood flow around the body, reduces blood pressure and significantly reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Movement & lifestyle- The British Journal of Health Psychology found that students who went from not exercising at all to even a modest program of two to three gym visits per week reported a decrease in stress, smoking, and alcohol and caffeine consumption, and an increase in healthy eating and better spending and study habits. In addition to these real-life improvements, after only two months of this regular moderate exercise, the students also performed better on tests of self-control. In essence, they had learned from pushing through the discomfort of exercise to stay calm and collected when under pressure situations in other aspects of their lives.
Key numbers |
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30- the number of minutes needed each day to reduce the risk of heart disease or stroke by 35%. |
7.6 million- the number of people living in the UK with heart and circulatory disease. |
50%- less chance of a heart attack in your 50's or 60's if you walk daily. |
460- the number of people who die each day in the UK as a direct consequence of heart or circulatory diseases. |
52%- the percentage daily walking will reduce the risk of high blood pressure. |
7- the number of years regular walking can add to life expectancy. |
Movement & thinking- Movement and walking actually changes our brain- improving our ability to think and act as we get older. As we age, the different parts of our brain can switch-off, or become redundant via the ageing process. This effects our decision making and our general presence of mind. A study from the University of Georgia suggests that simply walking each day reduces this decline, retains more cognitive power in the individual and actually can reverse any decline in mental capacity.
Movement & patience-So long as our exercise and movement is based on sound principles, the specific method isn’t nearly as important as our patience and our simple ability to turn up each day. Progress and perfection do not happen over night. There are so many examples in life when it is really important to just keep building the chain- it doesn’t really matter about the quality of what we are doing, just showing up builds that consistency muscle that is so important in so many other aspects of our lives.
Just like in life, when we exercise there are so many ups and downs- sometimes we don’t feel like moving and the sofa and a TV box set binge is more appealing- that’s fine- but just get up and get the movement done- consistency is key.
Movement & experiencing failure. If we choose to challenge ourselves in any kind of physical practice, there will be occasions when we fail and that is fine. Accepting and learning from failure is an integral part of growth. We need to lean into the risk of potential failure rather than skirting around it. This builds our capacity to cope with the ongoing challenges of life.
Movement & grit/stickability. Intense exercise builds the psychological muscle of being able to suffer.
Getting out and active when you don’t really feel like it is an admirable quality but is also a skill that can be learned. Holding on during a tough workout when every bone in your body is telling you to quit is a confidence building experience that can be applied to so many more situations in life.
It’s not an asthma attack. After 30 years of teaching PE, I have seen a worrying decline in the fitness of our nations youth. A 1500m run in athletics has seemingly gone beyond the reach of many of our young people, with 800m of consistent running now becoming a real challenge for many in our society. How can we have let this happen? We need to remember that when we are working hard and moving towards the edge of our comfort zone, 99% of the time we are not having an asthma attack-we are simply out of breath. The key is conditioning ourselves to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. The more we do this, the better we get. A word of warning, high intensity exercise at our very physical limits never gets any easier- we just learn to get better at coping with it.
Movement & community. A growing body of research shows that exercising with other people promotes connection and belonging- an integral part of effective mental and emotional health. If we feel part of an exercise community, we become galvanised together through our collective movement. Have you ever noticed how when we walk with others that we naturally synchronise our movement? This is a natural event that our subconscious seeks out with others. We have evolved from a tribal society, with a primary focus on fitting in with that tribe. Where are you going to find your next tribe to join?
What can we do if we want to move more?
If movement is so important for our ongoing health and longevity, we need to make it a priority in our lives and schedule it as an essential meeting with ourselves. Using the excuse of I don’t have enough time cannot be a good enough reason if movement is a priority investment for our future health. You wouldn’t repeatedly miss an appointment with your doctor, as you know that it would have a detrimental effect on your health. So why would we choose to repeatedly fail to meet with ourselves at the gym if it leads to a negative health effect in the future?
Investing in ourselves is not a selfish thing to do- it will ultimately lead to both a benefit to ourselves and also to those people that are around us.
There are two approaches to incorporating movement into our lives- and we can choose one or the other, or preferably both as an investment in our future selves.
1. Build movement into our daily life.
There is so much research that suggests that a sedentary lifestyle- too much sitting- is the new smoking in terms of storing up a real health care nightmares for our future. This doomsday prophesy is not meant to scare people into movement, but it serves as a very real warning that if we don’t look to change this aspect of our lives what could potentially happen to us all in the future.
Some of the simple ways that we can incorporate more movement into our daily lives include:
Put on and take off our shoes while standing up.
Use the stairs as much as possible.
Have an active commute (e.g. walking or biking to work).
If you drive anywhere, intentionally park far away from your destination to include a brisk walk in your journey.
Ask the question- do I really need to use the car for this journey? Could I walk to the corner shop?
Always keep a water bottle nearby. You’ll drink more, which means you’ll need to pee more, which means you’ll get up and move more in order to get to the toilet.
Set a timer to move- look to get up and move around if you have been sat for 30 minutes or more.
Consider a stand-up desk arrangement. In lockdown, I fashioned my own standup desk using a normal desk with a cardboard box sat on top to raise my monitor and keyboard to standing height.
Try initiating stand-up meetings- they keep meetings shorter and more focused, as well as keeping people active.
2. Set aside time to exercise.
Make an appointment with yourself- make sure that your exercise time is scheduled and blocked out in your calendar. Trust me- you are more likely to do the activity if it is scheduled.
Finding the best time for you to exercise is really important. For some, early morning may work best before the household wakes up. For me, I schedule my workouts for on the way home from work. This forces me to finish work at a set time, and means that once I get home, I can devote my time fully to my family.
Make a commitment to others. This is one of the significant strengths of the CrossFit movement. It has built a community where you feel a community responsibility to turn up to your classes. You feel accountable to meet up with your friends at the gym and suffer together. By belonging to a community, it removes any points of resistance to get the work done and makes the process fun. I understand the intensity of Crossfit is not for everyone, but it is a powerful illustration of the importance of community. How can you build this accountability into your own movement or exercise programmes? Join a local club, meet up with friends or joining an online community are all simple ways to strengthen that feeling of accountability to others.
Ideal movements for the over 50’s
Walking- Walking has also been long compared to more intense forms of exercise such as running. Though experts believe running may be marginally better for you, but only if you don’t get injured and if you manage to run regularly- something with which more than half of all runners (myself included) have struggled with.
A vigorous walk 3 times per week is optimal for health benefits, but daily strenuous walks are even more ideal. In addition, do not dismiss the benefits of getting outdoors and exposing yourself to all the wonders of being in nature. Simply being outside in the fresh air raises our mood, keeps us more connected to our environment and gives us valuable headspace to explore our innermost thoughts.
Strength training- Lots of research sources recommend strength training at least twice a week regardless of age or gender as a significant factor in maintaining health. Lockdown has shown us that we do not need fancy gym memberships or elaborate home gym set-ups to train or develop our strength.
Simple body weight circuits incorporating the following movements as a basis will have a real health benefit-
Squats
Push-ups
Step-ups
Lunges
Glute bridges
Wall sits
Planks
Sit-ups
Chair dips
Curls with anything weighted that you can find.
Burpees
There are a range of different ways that you can structure these simple body weight movements into a training programme, but in reality for me it is just important to incorporate some into our lives. They are all pretty compound movements that involve whole-scale movement. The idea is not to isolate small muscle groups like the bodybuilding fraternity are so fond of, but to combine as many muscles in as much movement as possible. Popular ways to structure these movements into a programme could include:
A set rep range- 10 reps on each movement and move on. Repeat each cycle a number of times.
A set time range- 30 seconds moving, 30 seconds resting.
Combined with other movements- 200m run/walk, 10 reps, 200m run/walk, 10 reps, etc.
AMRAP- As many rounds as possible- 10 reps on each for 20 mins.
EMOM- Every minute, on the minute- perform a small set number of reps every minute, on the minute for a set duration of say 20 mins.
Tabata- One movement. 20 seconds working, 10 seconds rest for 4 minutes. This is absolutely brutal for only 4 minutes of work. It is one of my personal favourites!
Death by workout- One movement. EMOM 1 rep in min 1, 2 reps in min 2, etc. Stop when you can no longer fit the number of reps into the minute of work. Death by burpees/pushups/sit-ups is a real toughie.
Final thoughts
With the advent of various digital training aids such as fitbits/garmins/etc we can get so much automated feedback on our performance, measuring a seemingly endless range of health indicators. This can be a hugely motivating effect knowing and measuring our improvements- however I have started to realise some of the down falls of such an approach. I have recognised a growing dependancy on these measures, and subsequently have become less in-tune with my own internal feedback mechanisms. Do I really need my Garmin to tell me I need more rest- or should I realise that I am tired? Should I really run around the block to get the last 100m of a run to tip me over the 5km mark- or should I be satisfied with my run? How is this feedback really serving me. If it is a motivator- then go for it and monitor and measure away. If it is adding noise/stress to my life- treat the information with a pinch of salt.
Linked to this accountability has to be our own philosophy of exercise. When I was younger, I was obsessed with performance indicators and the details of the training programme. I would go out to ride 40km because the programme said. If it dictated a set intensity, or profile for the ride, I selected my route accordingly. This sapped the joy of riding out of me. To this day, I hate running. I am convinced that this is down to too much mile chasing in my younger years when I was training for an Ironman Triathlon. I ran to get the miles in the training plan, rather than running for the joy of it. I cannot believe that for years I went out on the bike and never discovered the joy of cafe stops. I saw them as a distraction, something that got in the way of my training plan and my performance data. With a little more experience, I now realise that the joy of any bike ride has to be the cafe stop- it is an institution in the cycling world and for good reason. It gives rides a reason, it brings joy and fosters community spirit.
With age, we don’t have to worry about training for any specific goals apart from our enjoyment, health and longevity. It is important that we don’t let physical activity become another thing that we feel the need to be great at all of the time. It should be a stress relief, not a stressor in our lives. It is important to remember that movement should be an enjoyable hobby…and we do not need to win at our hobbies!
Any significant change in our lives requires significant practice. The way we practice is by building a habit. The way we build a habit is by simply showing up day after day and not breaking the chain. We do not need to be the best, we do not need to be greatest every day, we just need to show up and keep movement a priority in out lives.
Movement and exercise- Stay on the path. Fall off the path. Get back on the path. It’s as simple and as hard as that.
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