Movement vs Exercise

JUNE 13, 2017 BY ROBYN 40 COMMENTS

Just like our bodies change with seasons and our eating patterns change, so do our exercise rhythms. Two years ago I was training for the New York City marathon and the two to three years before that I ran with the Charlottesville Track Club, meeting my friends at the track by 5:30am 1-2x a week and training for races, including an almost annual 26.2. I really, really enjoyed it.

But then I realized I didn’t anymore. I don’t want to say those days are long gone, because I don’t think they are…but I do think they are on hold for a while.

I spent my first year in New York running with some nursing school friends and ran a bit with NYRR, but with the craziness of school and working and simply trying to just live in the city it became too much. So much so, that I dropped out of training for my 2nd NYC marathon in the summer of 2016. Running had turned from being a positive addition to my life and was now a huge stressor. So I stopped.

A few months later I started going to Equinox, a ‘plushier’ gym in the city with lots of really amazing classes, which is the main reason I joined. I loved all the hot yoga and barre and spin classes – and then came to love kickboxing and zumba (for real, fav class) and I liked how I could workout based on whatever I was feeling because I had so many choices. But then this past spring, going to the gym started to feel like an obligation. I would feel bad if I didn’t go because it was so expensive. That obligatory feeling in addition to the realization of student loans coming in, made a $225 gym membership very easy to give up.

I quit the gym in April and it felt really good. And really freeing. Not just from a financial point (because yes, that guilt melted away) but from an emotional standpoint because I stopped feeling bad/guilty if I didn’t go to the gym. Side note on Equinox or any gym: if it triggers you to be around “fit” people or to hear messages about “calories you’re burning” (seriously, the worst motivator ever) in gym classes or see ads of really “toned” people around the gym…please don’t go to that gym. I absolutely hate Equinox’s advertising and don’t support it at all, but I’m also in a head space where that bounces right off me, thankfully. Over time I found the instructors that taught with a posture of body positivity so I stuck with those and avoided all the others.

Looking back, I’ve gone from running with a group and training for long races to walking and jogging and doing yoga and barre and whatever feels good for my body that day. And this “flow” and type of movement feels really really good.

I love the chapter on movement in the book, Health at Every Size, because it pushes back against what society tells us. We overlook the simplicity of healthy movement. It doesn’t mean you have to have this regimented exercise routine that you must do to be healthy. The best part about engaging in movement that truly is best for you is that you might not even know you’re doing it.

Doesn’t that sound so much better?

Think about this: if you’re doing a workout that you hate, you’re not releasing feel good neurotransmitters in your brain. Instead, you’re releasing a shiz ton of cortisol. So not only is that movement not healthy for you mentally or emotionally, but you’re creating more cortisol…aka more stress. Cortisol is a good thing for us, it helps regulate a lot of systems and processes in the body and we need it to survive. But when we have too much, it’s not good.

Think decreased immune system, increased blood sugar, GI issues (think bloating, cramps etc etc), fertility issues (cortisol messes with the release of female hormones in particular) and what I think is very important to note…when you’re doing exercise you don’t like, you’re not doing it for health reasons…you’re doing it to control the size and shape of your body. And if you’re releasing excess cortisol instead of happy neurotransmitters, that cortisol mobilizes fat storage. I don’t say that to fear monger, but instead to shout, “Doing movement you hate isn’t healthy at all! And it’s going against the unhealthy motivation {changing your body} you have to workout in the first place!”

There will be a time and a place when perhaps I get back into long distance running, but right now is not that time at all. Having any sort of “plan” seems really stressful and rigid and not free or fun at all.

For me, when I have a long day or back to back busy days…I don’t work out. Rarely, if ever, do I work out before I work 11am-11pm even if I have a three hour morning. That doesn’t feel restful or life giving. And now that I have a new 9-6 job M-F, I only move my body if it feels like it will add to my day, which is not every day. Sometimes that’s a run along the river, sometimes that’s 30 minutes of barre3 online, sometimes that’s a yoga podcast, sometimes that stretching on my foam roller for 15 minutes or doing some jumping jacks to Beyonce. Sometimes that’s simply walking.

And sometimes that’s simply that subconscious incorporation of movement into the rhythm of my day like biking to work, or taking the stairs up to our apartment, or sweeping the floors after dinner. Movement isn’t always planned. And that’s when I think it’s the healthiest of all.

But that’s me. And I’m not you. So how do you figure first, what is healthy movement and second, what is the best way to move my body?

Let’s start with what healthy movement is NOT.

Moving with the focus of burning a certain number of calories.

Moving with the primary intention of manipulating your body shape or size.

Moving in order to earn eating a certain food or to burn off foods already eaten.

Moving as punishment or out of guilt or because you hate your body.

Moving for a certain number of minutes or intensity or any other arbitrary measure to make the workout “count.”

Moving when you’re sick instead of resting.

I could go on and on…but if you engage in any of the above…I’d encourage you to take a look at your motivations for exercising.

Moving because you enjoy connecting with your body and not dissociating from your body or feelings.

Moving because you love your body and what is does for you, not to craft it into something.

Moving because it is stress relieving (not a feelings/reality numbing mechanism).

Moving because that is the most caring thing you can do for your body in that moment.

Moving for however long or however short and whatever intensity or ease your body needs.

Taking breaks from movement without guilt or shame or fear or anxiety.

Flexible. Even if you’re training for something – you have the mindset that the whole plan is totally flexible.

Incorporated anywhere, anytime. Playing with your kids, cleaning your house, dancing in your living room, carrying groceries. You have an awareness that this is all healthy movement.

Life giving and healing and refreshing and restores your heart + mind + soul.

Moving because it’s a privilege, not a necessity or obligation in life.

We live in a culture obsessed with burning calories and doing things better, more intense, for longer until you feel you are enough. You are competent. You are worthy. But the thing is, you will be chasing all that forever because you will never get there.

Just like I tell clients, ask yourself these two questions.

“Am I doing this because I hate my body or because I love my body?”

“Is this helping me lead a better life?”

If the answer is ‘hate’ and ‘no’, stop and re-access. Life is way too short to do things that do not matter.

Article originally published at thereallife-rd.com.