domingo, 12 de abril de 2020

Exercise as a Habit


Since 2014, when I saw myself in a mirror and I don’t like what I saw (like 75 Kilos in a person not taller than 165cms), the decision was made: a change is necessary. During that time I was living in Caracas, near to my beloved Avila Mountain, so the decision was to hike the mountain, like 3 to 4 mornings per week and some biking on Sundays. That decision helps me to see some physical changes in my body but, at certain point we moved to another apartment in Caracas, not so near to the Avila, and some weight returned back. New decision was to enter to a gym. I am not a “gym guy” so I decided to work with a coach and by chance a very talented one. He pushed me to do more and more, and changes again started to appear, not only in my body but also in my mind. At that moment, doing exercises becomes an important activity to be done almost daily.

Avila mountain from my office


Sunrise seen from the Avila while trekking

2018 arrives and another change with it: we moved to The Philippines. During the adaptation period my exercises were on pause, and again, some weight came back (71Kg). At certain period of 2019, I started my exercise routine, and something changed: the mindset I felt before returned, but stronger I would say. That mindset of trying to exercise everyday regardless of the quantity of work, meetings, responsibilities and pendings at home. Exercise ceased to be an activity to be done when there is time, to be an activity that have to be done in the same way I eat, brush my teeth, or kiss and hug my family: an habit that I should do almost daily (Sundays for me are rest days).

It was not an easy task but something I found in my experience is that every time I skip exercising because a lot of work, the next day I have the same amount of work (or more), and my mood was not good. At that moment a new intention was defined: not to skip exercising regardless of the amount of work and the result was interesting: Exercising bring me not only the moment to stop thinking about work, but also the time to make a pause on what I was doing and then maybe to reconsider another ways to do it. Since then I decided to do my best in order to do exercise daily, specially when a lot of work is in the agenda.  

My curiosity begun to ask to myself why exercise helps me and I found that at least I have read the answers, but I didn’t learned it. For instance, there is a very well-known book that you have read, or at least you know and is in the list of books you want to read: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In this book, a business bestseller, the author mentions how important is exercising. He consider it as part of the 7th habit, Sharpen the saw: we cannot work to death, we need time to recuperate and recharge physically, mentally and spiritually, and exercising is just one of the 3 dimensions he mentioned.

Exercising could help in several ways, and here I share only some more, but you can do your own research:
  • Have better sleep: let's be honest, exercise tires us, and we need to recover for it. Doing exercise will help us to go to bed earlier and sleep better.
  • Illness risk reduction: It is known that sedentarism is dangerous and it is related to certain types of illness and diseases like diabetes obesity heart disease and hypertension. Regular exercise can help to reduce the risk of having this illnesses, because your blood system is “doing exercise”
  • Helps mind and body to handle stressful situations: During high intense exercise you have to tolerate certain “symptoms” like sweating, rapid heart rate and rapid breathing. It seems those are also symptoms related to anxiety and stress and researches believe that the body and the mind progressively learn these symptoms are not dangerous. In a way, you increase your tolerance to them. In addition to this, your blood flows faster and bring more oxygen and glucose to your brain which are just the perfect ingredients for your mind to work better and generate more endorphins, so you also feel better. It seems that exercise also helps to remove the cholesterol excess caused by stress situations
Since the enhance community quarantine started due to the Covid19, people is working from home, and we are struggling against that balance between, work hard, be good parents and “teachers”, take care of the responsibilities related to our home, buying groceries and of course having some “me time”. I cannot tell you is easy, each one of us is different and the challenges we are facing might be different if you compare yours with mine (maybe you have 3 kids, or you also have a pet, or maybe you are in a country where the quarantine is more strict, so the scenario is different making your challenge more difficult compared with mines). But in general terms we could agree we have some new challenges due to the new situation, some of them easier to handle, some of them harder. 

I cannot tell you that it will be easy to add to your new challenge list, the new one to “exercise regularly” (or to maintain your exercise routine but now from home) but what I can tell you is that it will bring you benefits as the ones mentioned before, so if you want to try, here you have also some recommendations:

  • You don’t need to exercise a lot in terms of time: You can start with 15 minutes training and then increase that time a little and then a little bit more. It is recommended to do at least 30 minutes exercise daily, so try to begin with certain amount of time you consider good to invest. If you starting point is less than 30 minutes, try to increase it up to the 30 minutes mark, at least.
  • Some days is better than nothing: As mentioned before is good to exercise in a daily basis, however you don’t need to start doing exercise every day. You can choose something like 3 days per week and then, when you create the habit, you can increase to 4, 5 and even 6. 7 days a week? You can but remember that is also recommended to have a resting time, so again, be aware about the balance and the goals you want to achieve.
  • Yes, there are those days: Too much work, too tired, long day, long queue to buy groceries, there are certain days that you will feel too tired to exercise, and it’s ok. Evaluate your own energy level and decide, but in general, try to make sure this is an exception and not your daily excuse.
  • Every day is a good day to start: How many times do you say to yourself “I will start on Monday” and then Monday ends and you didn’t start (not only applicable to exercise). Make the decision to start and start, even if today is Sunday.
  • Is not always an extra cost: For sure, there are 1000 ways to train from home, online trainers, online coaches, routines using regular elements to be found at home, some of them are free and for sure some of them are not. Look for the ones that are free and try them. if you are just starting, free options will be enough.You can google routines to be done at home, or IG accounts that will share some interesting daily routines, especially now in this situation. For sure there are paid options but I would recommend to start with the free options and then, depending on your progress and goals, to evaluate other options.  
  • Exercise is not less important: How important is your life? How long do you want to live? Do you think you will live longer if you don’t care about yourself? There are people that smoke and live longer than people that exercise, yes there are but statistics shows the opposite, healthier ways to live, are related to longer life. So if you want to live longer, you have to manage how to do it, you cannot avoid a car accident of a flight accident that are not under your control but you can do things under your influence to try to reach your target and exercise is one (as well as some others like a healthy diet or meditation)


Results after the 8 week challenge with F45 BGC (October to December 2019)

I won’t lie to you, starting doing exercise regularly, is not as my elder daughter say: easy peasy lemon squeezy. At the beginning, as in every beginning this is hard. After your first workout, it will be painful, and the second day, every part of your body will hurt, but if you don’t do exercise again it will be worst the next day. During the first week and maybe during the second, it will be the same painful thing, I know it, it happens to me. But it won’t be worst than that. At certain point you won’t feel so painful, and at certain point you will see your progress, either at the mirror, either in the time invested, either in the frequency or in all mentioned. And at that moment you will figure out that your daily exercise is now a new habit you created.

I am not an expert in exercise, I am not a coach, I am not a trainer, I am not a sport public figure nor an influencer, and my body is not in perfect shape,  but I believe I learned something since my journey started, and what I learned might help you in your own journey, if so here you have it.