Why Exercise Is The Supplement

We challenge the idea that a daily workout automatically makes us “active” and explain why exercise works best as a supplement to all-day movement. We share simple, realistic ways to move more through habit stacking, walking breaks, and small mobility changes that fit real life. 
•exercise as a supplement to daily activity rather than the whole solution 
•why an hour-long workout does not cancel hours of sitting 
•habit stacking ideas like push-ups while the shower heats 
•full breathing mechanics and why rib expansion matters 
•stretching during routines to reduce tightness and aches 
•quick walks and why 10-minute bursts still count 
•stopping the habit of outsourcing movement when you can 
•playing with kids, hanging for shoulder mobility, and links to breathing and pelvic floor function 
•changing seated positions to support circulation, joints, and lymph flow 
•evening movement that supports wind-down and better sleep

Head to www.movingthroughmidlife.com for more information. 

Transcript

Exercise As A Supplement

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Today I want to speak with you about how I think of exercise compared to movement. So when I think of exercise as a personal trainer, I believe exercise is a supplement. Just like the vitamins you take, exercise is the supplement to movement. Yes, you should exercise just like you should enjoy the green juice, the fruit and vegetable supplements, omega, fish oils, all of that. But you should also make sure that you're eating all of those things as well. I wouldn't say enjoy that fruit and vegetable supplement and don't worry about ever eating, you know, an apple or some strawberries. No, we add the supplements on to help create this uh basically to bridge the gap between what we do eat and you know providing more nutrients. Same thing with exercise. I can say I know numerous people who exercise, they do a great job exercising, they work out for their hour, you know, they they do it consistently every day, you know, five days a week, whatever. And they're consistent. But then the rest of the time they sit. They're sitting, not being lazy, I don't mean it like that, but just not actively moving. They're working a lot, when they're at work, they're not moving a lot, or when they're home on the weekends, they're sitting a lot, watching a lot of TV, that type of thing. And this is where the problem arises. With exercise, if you want to be considered active, you shouldn't be just doing your hour-long workout and calling it a day. I remember a few years back, um, people were very, and maybe people are still into it. I don't really pay attention to it because I understand now that a calorie isn't just a calorie. So a lot of people used to enter their information on FitnessPal. And I would have people say, like, well, I come here every, meaning my come here being my workout classes, I come here every single day. So I would say I'm very active. But no, one hour of exercise does not mean you are very active. This is your supplement. Exercise is your supplement to activity. Activity is what you are doing the rest of those 12 hours. Are you moving a lot through the day? Do you try to go for walks or stretch your body? Get your heart rate up and move into this different positions throughout the day, or are you sitting in that same position over and over? This should hopefully encourage some of you. Because for those of you who aren't big into exercise, understand that exercise is your supplement. That is what I want you to start thinking about with your movement. And let's focus on the activity throughout the day rather than the actual exercise. How can we get more movement into our everyday? Start stacking your habits. Start looking at what you are doing daily and see how you can add in movement. Now, some of it can be exercises, some of it can be like, okay, I'm waiting for my shower to heat up and I'm gonna get down and do push-ups. That's what Dr. Mark Ryman does. And these are things that you can start to practice that are going to help enrich your daily activities. So another one is think about how you're moving, and movement doesn't just need to be exercise. So another thing that I like to recommend, I'll give you a couple that I have mentioned in the Stack Your Habits. And if you've followed me for a while, you've heard these all. But one is to practice breathing when you sit down and drink your coffee or while your coffee is brewing. Because breathing is one of those things that we take for granted, and a lot of us aren't breathing fully. That doesn't mean breathing deeply, two different meanings. Deeply is filling the lungs up, fully is breathing into the ribs fully, expanding that rib cage fully. And there's lots of little muscles in between those ribs that if you're not breathing into your ribs fully and they're not getting full expansion, those muscles aren't going to work. And what happens when they don't work, then you're more likely to deal with cracked ribs, slipped rib, um, where a rib slips out of place, those type of things occur more often when those muscles become weak. So we need to make sure that we are practicing full breathing. Another one that I've mentioned is stretching. So stretching, taking uh practicing a calf stretch while you brush your teeth. Because when we are in certain positions throughout the day, certain muscles tighten up, tighten up, get weak, and um don't go to their full length, which creates tension and tightness, which creates aches and pain, which creates injuries or lack of mobility, lack of movement because it's sore every time you move. So these are things that you need to make sure you're doing. Is it exercise? No. Is it movement? Yes. Okay, so start with stack your habits and think of the little things, little things you can do. Just twisting in your seat when you're at work, tilting your head to one side and then to the other side for next stretches. These are movements, these are creating different movement patterns in your body. I think I've hit that one home, hopefully. Number two, go for quick walks throughout the day. It doesn't need to be far or fast. Just work on moving more. And they've done numerous studies on how you know you always hear, make sure you're walking at least 30 minutes a day. And it has been shown it does not matter if you are doing 30 whole minutes at a time or if you're doing quick 10-minute bursts. That doesn't matter. As long as you're getting about 30 minutes in the day, you are recommended movement for heart health in the way of um diabetes and heart attacks and things like that. Now, I would say that you need to get your heart rate up a little bit higher at times. So sometimes that leisurely walk may not be what you are going to focus on, but also doing, you know, bursts of faster-paced workouts as well. A third way that you can work on getting more movement into your day is stop outsourcing your movement to someone else. Let's look at what we can do in our daily life to create more movement. Now, for those of you with little kids, I do want to say this does not apply to you because I remember when my kids were little and they're both sleeping, and I had to get milk, I would be so frustrated that I had to wake them up from their nap, take them into the grocery store so that I could grab one thing of milk, one gallon of milk. So this does not apply to you. But for those of you who either, if you have older children that are either with you or at school, this is for you. Instead of sitting and waiting for someone to bring, say, your groceries out, um, go in for them. Especially for those when you only get five or six items, right? That's a quick stop. You can do that, you can have your kids come in with you, and you can work together to get all the things, of course, depending on your children's age. But um just think about it to where you are not outsourcing all of your movement to someone else. And like I said, this depends on age of children and things like that, as to whether or not uh this is going to be you, and also your capability of movement. Okay, the fourth one is play with your kids. Get outside, throw the ball around, play at the playground with them. One of the best things that we can do is to hang on the monkey bars. Do you remember when you were little and you used to just sweep across those monkey bars? No problem. And then as you get older, it becomes really difficult to do. We need to be hanging a little bit more. It's really good for our shoulders to be able to hang. And actually, our shoulder mobility or lack thereof may be affecting your pelvic floor. So being able to kind of release that tension in that shoulder may help to release some of the uh back muscles that may be affecting your breathing pattern, which may in turn be affecting your pelvic floor. So that is something as well. And then um create movement by changing your position throughout the day. For those of you that are working moms, it's not all lost. You can change up the way that you sit in your chair. You can lift one leg up, bring it up, you know, not um more like a figure four, if you know that figure four stretch. You can bring one leg up and hold it in this position and then start tilting your pelvis forward and back. You can bring your feet down and move your ankles, start circling your ankles and pumping them to help bring that blood flow back up through the legs, up towards your heart. You can slide your ribs back and forth. So I tend to notice that people get stuck to where they tend to lean to one side a lot. So then that creates a lot of tension on the other, like the low back area. So just seeing in your seat, can you slide your ribs from left to right? All of these things are helping you move your body into different positions to help keep the joints lubricated and the lymphatic system flowing. So don't be afraid to move through these different positions. And then the last one is take time as a family going for an evening walk or a bike ride. And it doesn't mean getting your heart rate up, because then, you know, once you get your heart rate up in the evening, um, your basal temperature rises, and it makes it more difficult for you to kind of calm down, cool down to get ready for goodnight's sleep. So I may I I wouldn't recommend that so much, but more, you know, a fun game where y'all are playing or moving and um walking around or some stretching, any of those things will help. So I hope this encourages you to feel like maybe you don't need to exercise uh as hard as you are if you just start adding more movement into your day. Or for those who aren't exercising, understanding that that's okay. And if you just make sure you're finding ways to move more throughout your day, that's going to help you become more active and then start to slowly add in exercise like a supplement.