I am a true believer age means nothing!
Alex’s Journey
Why Balance is essential for your Exercise Routine
Like anything you work towards in life, be it work related or health related, results often take time. It doesn’t happen overnight.
Thinking specifically about exercise and health, whilst some lose weight quicker than others, there’s one common trend that must be taken into consideration along the way. During the process and during the at times, “grind”.
What I’m referring to is the balance we adopt. Everyone’s lives are different. Whilst some are heavily involved socially and/or with family, or have a time-demanding hobby, others may be more available with time outside of work. But if we focus too heavily on one thing – be it our time in the gym, or time away from it – the balance will affect our different states of health.
We all aim to be physically healthy, but what’s often neglected is our mental health.
Repetitively doing the same thing can often cause resentment. So if we relate that to fitness, ask yourself a few simple questions:
When was the last time you updated your workout program?
When was the last time you tried a new exercise you’d never done before?
When was the last time you asked someone for advice?
How are you going right now..?
Lifting weights can improve your aesthetic goals
What do you think of when you hear that someone is strong?
What do you think of when you hear that someone is strong?
They need to be in the gym 7 days a week lifting heavy weights, have bulging muscles, even walk around with imaginary watermelons under their arms?
What about a mum of three who trains twice a week, juggles work, family, and social commitments. Could they be considered strong?
Susan continues to go from strength to strength and being able to perform a pull up was a major achievement, until COVID hit. Even though Susan continued to train virtually, a pull up bar wasn’t accessible (I tried to have one installed in the backyard but I wasn’t convincing enough).
When we returned to the studio we jumped back into pull ups right away. Within 10 weeks Susan was completing multiple sets of unassisted pull ups and as a warm up now performs 5 pull ups before we add weight.
Being able to pull yourself up is an achievement in itself, adding weight shows determination to build on the strength you have and keep moving forward. What is even better is that Susan noticed clothes that weren’t feeling that great after being in lockdown are now a perfect fit, debunking the myth that lifting weights makes you bulky.
Why do we exercise?
It seems like a fairly basic question; what makes us get out of bed and go to the gym, or go for a run, or ride the bike. What is the driving force and thought process which leads us to make these positive lifestyle choices?
The very first question we always ask prospective new clients, and one we often refer back to with our long term clients is “What are your goals?”
Often these are short or medium term targets a client has in mind which they would like to achieve. For example; “I want to lose 5kg”, “I want to do a 50kg squat”, the list of goals we have heard goes on and on.
However what I want to do is go past these specific goals and look at the underlying reasons our clients choose to exercise.
Recently I, along with the other Live Well coaches conducted a survey asking “Why do you exercise?”
We gave a number of different options or allowed clients to state their own reasoning. Interestingly the most common response by a long way was ‘Health and Well Being’.
I know what you’re thinking…..’Health and Well Being’ could mean a lot of different things to different people.
To read the full blog visit www.livewellfitness.com.au
