3 Myths Keeping You From Consistent Exercise

If you have felt like your exercise routine is a yoyo of GYM-ing HARD and then falling off the wagon, here are 3 exercise myths to allow you to BURN THE WAGON.

Isn't it interesting that we make our health into “CHALLENGES"? The very verbage communicates that health should be hard. That it should be a challenge for you to actually show up for your body, and it also communicates that this is a very short term intention.

Why do we make fitness (the very thing that allows us to release endorphins, manage stress, balance hormones, increase lung capacity and think clearly) into something that we bring into only short spurts of our life when we want to lose weight?

As if that is the only reason to move your body. HA!

Let's rethink that.

Here are 3 myths that keep you sedentary, or from ever enjoying your movement:

Myth 1: Exercise is a way to make up for your food, or a punishment because of what you ate.

Repeat after me: Exercise IS NOT THERE TO MAKE UP FOR EATING.

And actually, it is really not that efficient at it...

Most of the calories you burn daily are NOT from exercise. They are burned by you BEING ALIVE.

This is called Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT), defined by this Endocrinology and Metabolic Journal as:

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. It ranges from the energy expended walking to work, typing, performing yard work, digesting food, undertaking tasks and fidgeting. Even trivial physical activities increase metabolic rate substantially.."

Even if you have a 1 hour long workout, your NEAT is still in charge of over 80% of your daily calorie burn, so you might as well start looking at ways to move more consistently, rather than being sedentary all day, then trying to move all at once.  

You will literally burn more calories that way.

Which brings me to the WHY of exercise.

WHY are you exercising in the first place? Is it JUST to burn calories?

If weight loss is your only reason to move your body, every single time you lace up your shoes you are doing so from a place of inadequacy.

This means that the only time you are "consistent" with exercise is when you hate your body most.

No wonder it is a punishment.

Myth #2 If you don't have an hour, it's not "worth it"

Have you ever thought that if you couldn't work out for an hour, 45 min, or 30 then it wasn't worth it?

When you look at your dog who has been cooped up all day, sedentary, and laying around, do you look at your watch and say, "I only have 10 minutes to walk him, so it's not "worth it."

NO! Because you understand that you are taking your dog for a walk because it is GOOD for him. Because it will BENEFIT him, and that is enough of a reason to do it.

Think about how many hours you have wasted doing nothing because you couldn't do EVERYTHING?

Going back to that NEAT I was talking about above, what would happen if you took off your mental minimum of exercise? What would happen if those 5, 10, 15 minutes here and there were WORTH IT?

Don't you see how much more of an ACTIVE PERSON you would be? You would probably even get full hours more of movement in each week!

So in summary to Myth 2, GET RID OF YOUR MINIMUMS that you have put on exercise.

Myth #3 There is a RIGHT way everyone should exercise.

Let's redefine exercise to MOVEMENT. Exercise is a way to burn calories, intentionally get ripped, toned, or fast. MOVEMENT is less focused on aesthetics and more focused on enjoyment.

The best type of exercise is the one that you will sustain! What do you actually enjoy? Stop trying to figure out the way to move your body the most intense way you can...

You will burn 100% more calories rollerblading consistently than you will sprinting never.

Start asking yourself, "How can I exercise today in a way that makes me WANT TO COME BACK TOMORROW?"

People that exercise often do so in:

• community

• with enjoyment

• rarely as a form of weight loss

When you start to find movement that you love, you get the opportunity to use that as a source of your identity. Do you see the difference between, "I AM a runner" and "I SHOULD run more"?

When you actually believe you are a runner, noone has to convince you to run. Because you are doing something that matters to you, not something that constantly reminds you that you or your body aren't good enough.

If this resonates with you, look into working with a KYPO Coach and actually diving into what consistent health could look like in your life!