Big Sister Advice #14
Starting this year, in addition to the Q & A, I’ll offer you some general words of wisdom, or stuff to think about, as you find helpful.
On Fitness
When I turned 30 I realized how young I was, and I decided that I would like to keep my body as strong as it was then into the rest of my life (as much as possible). So thirty was the year when I started making a consistent and concerted effort to work out. I’ve realized that it’s not helpful for me to be motivated by my appearance in order to work out, so I started thinking of other reasons why exercise would be helpful for me. Being mindful in this way really helped me think about fitness in a different way from the popular language of gym enthusiasts everywhere, and I’m really grateful for that.
Here are three things that might be helpful for you in terms of fitness:
I didn’t only think of working out as going to the gym. I worked on expanding my idea of a workout including short amounts of time (hello 7 minute workout routine) and also things like walking, dance, vigorous cleaning, etc. One thing that has been useful for categorizing this is by the amount of active minutes I get each week.
I looked for outcomes that focused on how I felt, instead of how I looked. Was my sleep better? Did I feel more energized throughout the day? Did my body feel stronger? More flexible? There are also fitness outcomes to consider, like being able to run longer without feeling like you’re dying, or lifting heavier weights, or getting to the end of the workout class without doing any modifications.
I didn’t look to others for fitness benchmarks. I think sometimes it can be helpful or inspiring to see someone else’s fitness journey, but too often we use it as a way to demean ourselves with comparison. We look at the number of pounds someone has lost, or inches, or the way their body has changed and berate ourselves for not having as dramatic a transformation. This is not helpful to our bodies or our minds. Different people are different, and this includes the way their bodies change in response to exercise.
