When most people think of medicine, they might think of either a bottle of pills or a vaccine, or maybe even some herbal supplements. However, medicine doesn’t really have an all-in-one definition. Its definition changes depending on our individual needs and preferences. The definition of what is medicine depends uniquely on YOU.
I wrote in a previous article about using exercise as medicine. The problem is, that just like medicine’s definition changes for each individual’s needs and preferences, the definition of exercise also changes based on YOU and what defines YOU.
Exercise doesn’t necessarily have to be something that “melts bellyfat,” or helps you lose weight, or makes you sweat and burn calories. No, exercise is anything that gets you up and moving, and makes you feel better. Exercise shouldn’t make you tired, and it certainly shouldn’t be something that you dread!
It’s important to note now, the difference between:
a. Exercise
b. Fitness Training
c. Sports Performance
I’ll start with b. Fitness Training:
Fitness Training is an extra step up from Exercise. It is where one has fitness goals, such as losing a certain body fat percentage, achieving a certain look, working on building muscle mass (“making gainz,” lol), or trying to alleviate or even ameliorate the pain associated with an illness or injury. While Fitness Training surely can be fun, it is also a bigger commitment and may require the purchase of exercise equipment or a gym membership. It is something that should be done at least 4-5 times per week, and for at least 45 minutes per session (day). Fitness Training can be moderate, or it can be very rigorous, depending on the goals one is trying to achieve or the look one is trying to maintain.
Next I will cover c. Sports Performance:
When we think of Sports Performance, we often think of grueling practice sessions that include a lot of strength and conditioning, combined with intense weightlifting sessions in the gym. This is 100% correct. On top of that, one who is dedicated to increasing their abilities in Sports Performance is already naturally inclined to be at a fitness level that simply out-performs the average person without much effort. These people devote their lives to their training, and have an incredible task at hand in order to balance it somehow with having a “normal” life. These are an elite group of people in this category, and they were built for this extremely disciplined and brutal physical lifestyle, which isn’t for the faint of mind.
Finally, we have found ourselves at a. Exercise:
Exercise is a necessary component…the essential ingredient…for a happy, healthy life. When life becomes so hectic or conflicting that we cannot make time to set ourselves free to play a little, our bodies become stagnant and our lives get staler each day that goes by. Some people think of the “all or nothing” motto, and they just become anxiety-ridden at the thought of starting a new fitness routine that will encompass a lot of time and energy that they just don’t have! Exercise is NOT supposed to be stressful.
On the contrary, exercise is supposed to be medicinal. Exercise is supposed to make us feel GREAT. Exercise is supposed to be something we look forward to! Exercise is not sacrificing sleep to drag yourself out of bed on a cold, winter morning to go pound the hard concrete every morning. Exercise is not coming home from an expensive hot yoga class drenched in sweat and other people’s airborne toxins and asking yourself why you didn’t trust your ligaments when they told you that your knee isn’t supposed to bend that way! Exercise is not going to the health club at the after-work rush, and being too tired once you get there to remember what the heck you’re doing there. NO. None of the aforementioned are exercise.
Exercise is going for a 20-30 minute walk-jog with your rescue dog.
Exercise is going for a hike in the woods or walking a circle around your favorite park.
Exercise is playing hide-and-go-seek with your kids.
Exercise is having fun in bed with your life partner.
Exercise is gardening.
Exercise is dancing a little while you cook a healthy meal.
Exercise is doing some housecleaning or laundry.
Exercise is making repairs around the house.
Exercise is picking flowers for someone you love.
Exercise is volunteering to shoot hoops with kids at a Boys and Girls Club or the YMCA (or some similar establishment).
Exercise is getting outside to find interesting things to take pictures of.
Exercise is simply going outside and stretch while you get some fresh air.
…Exercise is getting up to do anything that isn’t sitting around wondering if you should be doing something to feel better about yourself.
While we at AskMarissa.com would like for people to take the next step towards Physical Fitness and enroll in one of our Fitness Packages (hey, we need to eat and pay bills too!), we also are firm in what we know is right in our Hearts—that Life is meant to be ENJOYED.
Strive to accomplish what makes you feel good Holistically. That is, do something for yourself that makes you feel better and more balanced in your Mind, Body, and Spirit. If adding Fitness goals to your list of accomplishments is within that realm of enjoyment for you, then we would be on Cloud 9 just to be there to help you every step of the way with one of our Fitness Packages that we would spend a lot of time and effort to customize just for you. But if you just want to make that first step towards living a more active life, and simply de-stressing with safe, healthy, low-impact activities and hobbies that get you moving and your blood circulating, then by all means—just engage in whatever exercise makes you feel like the Best You today!
