The trick to exercising everyday
As an inconsistent meditator, who understands the benefits but doesn't find this enough to motivate me into action, I was intrigued by the secret of one teacher who has meditated upon waking for 40 years.
"What motivates me is not discipline," she said, "it is that I love it. I wake up in the morning and I feel excited that I get to meditate - it is my time."
I understood - this is how I feel about exercise. I am not motivated by the health benefits, although there are many, nor by discipline, but by the joy of moving and giving this body, which is so obedient to me most of the time, the chance to take over and play.
It seems that I'm not alone, at least in the sense that knowledge and discipline are often not enough to keep us moving.
A new survey by Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) found that although 85 per cent of respondents know that exercise is good for them and want to do it, only 77 per cent had signed up for an exercise program and less than 40 per cent completed it.
These figures just about mirror our national statistics. According to the ABS, 60 per cent of Australian adults do less than the recommended 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per day.
"I think it's one of those things... it's been creeping up on us, the lack of exercise" says ESSA's Dr Andrew Rochford.
While the modification of life is meant to make it easier and theoretically give us more time, many people say a lack of time prevents them from moving.
"We're making life more efficient, so we should have more time to exercise, but we're not doing it," Rochford says. "I think that's around the motivation for exercise."
The "should" part might motivate us to sign up to a program, but it is unlikely to stop us from hitting the snooze button in the morning, he explains.
"If your only motivation is 'I have to do this', it's against what motivates us in terms of being able to do it day after day," Rochford says. "We're more likely to eat healthy if it tastes good and suits your life - exercise is the same."
This is why it is worth moving for joy - whether it's walking, dancing, bike riding or swimming or adopting any of the 8000-odd other options there are out there that make you feel good.
A challenge with this is that, starting out or starting again after a long break, it doesn't necessarily feel good straight away and, with some of the less intense styles of exercise, tangible results may be slow.
Why do people often not exercise even a little, asked one exercise physiology research professor, last year. "The answer really is simple," he concluded: "One person's reality is not the same as that of someone else."
With this Rochford agrees. "We need to start getting more clever in the way we prescribe exercise," he says.
If you're unsure where your joy-spot is with exercise or where to start, he suggests seeking expert advice so that exercise can be "prescribed" according to interests and goals, health and injuries.
"Prescribing" individual plans from a menu of exercise, including everything from HIIT to pilates to tennis, is a solution more experts are using to combat our sedentary lifestyles.
"If you're going to build a house, you're not going to draw it up yourself," Rochford says. "Exercise is the same... there are experts out there who have the skill set to answer your questions and help create the best options."
For his part, Rochford says he finds an element of competition in his fitness fun, but "the reason I go back is that I enjoy it".
What kind of physical activity gets you motivated to jump off the couch? Let us know in the comments below.
Written by Sarah Berry. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
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