Do You Go to the Fitness Factory?
I grew up in an industrial model of fitness – go to the gym, workout, go back in 1-2 days, do it again. In the fitness factory, your job is to show up, work hard, build strength and/or cardio capacity and go home. Clock back in to your work out again tomorrow.
The industrial model of fitness treats you as an athlete in waiting, urging you to start strength training to build towards……what? What is all the strength training for?
๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐น๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฏ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐๐?
What if you don’t have athletic ambitions? What if you want strength to lift your grand daughter? Or lift your carry-on into the overhead compartment? What choices do you have to nurture your strength without visiting the fitness factory?
Enter a new age of fitness – movement snacking.
Movement snacking is a term used in research studies looking at the impact of micro-dosing movement on people with health conditions like diabetes or Parkinson’s.
When we align our movement practice with the actual demands for movement in our daily life, we break open the kind of fitness factory messages about over-loading your muscles or perpetually increasing your workouts to be harder, longer.
๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐ฒ
Stepping out of the current fitness cultural paradigm, I share 3 things in this short video that I think are important to include in your daily movement.
1. Basic movement for balance and mobility
2. Preparation for unusual activities
3. Novelty in movement
Movement snacking is doing load-bearing and cardiovascular activating movements in small portions to keep your body more ready to move. We don’t need to move a lot! But bringing movement into sedentary periods of our day helps keep our tissues and joints nourished.
๐ช๐ต๐ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐
With long periods of sitting and a sedentary lifestyle, your knees (and other joints) face this challenge:
Your knees manage the forces that go through them when you walk; when you don’t move throughout your day, they don’t get a nutritious bathing of synovial fluid to keep them healthy.
When your knees are starved for the synovial fluid they need; friction and inflammation over time lead them to erode.
Your knees manage the forces that go through them when you walk but when you are sedentary they don't get the nutritious bathing of synovial fluid that keeps them healthy. Without it, they start to erode - friction and inflammation over time can lead to conditions like arthritis.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ข๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ข๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฒ๐
If we have been sedentary (and Canadians are on average sitting almost 10 hours each day), when we start to be active………. Our eyes are bigger than our stomach!
We don’t give our body time to adjust and adapt to moving or time to let our movement attune, to become more efficient and more coordinated.
We jump into movement and wonder why, later, some part of us hurts. We are active couch potatoes.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ด
Research from the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group in Ottawa over the last 10 years shows that too much sedentary time carries risks – even for those who exercise regularly.
According to the American Heart Foundation, when we sit for long periods of time:
โ Our blood flow slows down; we build up fatty acids in blood vessels that can lead to heart diseaseโ
โ We increase our insulin resistance that can lead to diabetesโ
โ Our ability to process fats is slowed; the lipoprotein lipase which is essential to break down fat drops by 90%. When we can't break down fat, we store itโ
โ We increase our C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker for heart diseaseโ
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐ฑ๐.
๐๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ?
Some of my clients tell me they don’t know what to do when they take movement breaks.
I have partnered with Dan and John from Seven Movements, who launched a new app that gives you seven movements to do based on your day-to-day physical, mental and emotional condition.
More than an exercise app, Seven Movements is a movement to change how the 80% of us who don’t go to the fitness factory several times week can stay strong, mobile and active in our lives.
If interested in learning more about a new approach to movement snacking – please sign up. I will share information about their micro-dosing approach to movement and a special offer.