I was talking with my housemate about how to be more physically active if youâre not used to it at all because everywhere youâre told to start a training routine where you push yourself a little every day, and while that may seem easy for some people it can be really fucking daunting if you start from zero.
As someone who comes from a very physically active family that doesnât exercise just for the sake of exercising but do things like walk to the grocery store and bike to work, hereâs my advice that has always worked for me:
Go super duper easy on yourself.
If you want to walk more start by walking for 3 or 5 minutes. The shortest possible walk you feel youâre capable of. A trip around the block or across the yard. You donât need to sweat or get your blood pumping. Just a short stroll. The hardest part is to convince yourself to set aside 5 minutes every day to go on this short walk but nothing else about it should be hard. Do it every day and one day youâll realize that you donât want to go home just yet. Itâs very important that you donât think âI want to pressure myself to walk furtherâ but rather âI havenât spent all my walking energy yet. I have more walk in meâ and only then do you lengthen the walk. I repeat, at no point should it be exhausting or difficult because even when it feels easy your body will be building muscle and stamina and it will eventually feel too easy and youâll naturally want to crank it back up to easy again.
If youâre not used to being physically active it might not make a ton of sense when I say that youâll have more walking energy left but trust me, youâll get it when you get there.
I grew up with going on evening walks with my parents and passed that on to other housemates who didnât get it at first but are now going on walks long after they moved somewhere else. Because once you get the hang of it youâll realize how calming it is on the brain to move the body even if the body isnât exhausted afterwards.
And it of course helps to entertain yourself especially in the beginning. My housemate started out listening to audiobooks and podcasts but eventually realized PokĂŠmon Go was the best motivator. Whatever you feel like you want to do on your 5 minute easy stroll.
Love this. Exercise should be individual. No pain no gain is a big lie most of the time. Just do a little bit if that's what you can do. A little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing.
