Just jumping in with a quick one today. We all (hopefully) know that exercise is paramount to physical health and whole person wellness. We all (hopefully) are making an effort to incorporate exercise into our lives. But does where we choose (or as is the case lately, are able) to exercise matter?
Getting a “good” workout at home seems to be a question that a lot of you have. And it is understandable. Many of us are hesitant to head back to the gym in the current climate. The cost of belonging to a fitness center or health club, or multiple boutique gyms was the entire reason for my series on how to outfit a home gym.
And then I ran across this article on Mind Body Green. It perfectly encapsulates how I feel on this topic. In my life, I have had access to gyms and fitness centers pretty regularly mostly because, let’s be fair, I was working there. But that doesn’t mean that I believe a “good” workout must take place in one of these types of facilities.
There have been times in my life when I have loved going to the gym to grind it out on the daily. And there have been seasons of my life when I don’t. During the warmer months, I prefer to exercise outside. And if you follow me on Instagram (please do, if you don’t by the way), you will be all too familiar with the pictures of my feet I like to post while walking or jogging. There is just something about being outside in the sun… and the research backs me up on that.
There have also been seasons of my life when I have not been able to make the time. Being a new mom and trying to balance all of the crazy that comes with that took a lot more of my time. If I wanted to prioritize exercise, at least some of the time it needed to be done at home. That’s what therabands and my playing card workout are for.
But I also look at things from a different perspective. See, I think there are a couple of solid reasons why there is so much consternation. First, and like I’ve said before, we are labeling exercise. A “good” workout, we have been conditioned to believe, is one that involves complicated equipment, routines, and a whole lot of sweat.
Not so. A “good” workout is a workout in which your body moves in the way it was designed to move. At a heavier intensity or pace than you would get by, say, walking to the mailbox or cleaning up your kid’s toys. And that leaves your body and mind feeling calm, happy, and free when you are done.
Secondly, I fully recognize that I have the exercise education to back up working out at home. When we go to a gym or other exercise facility, there is a safety net. Unless it is a 24 hour place, gyms usually have staff on hand that can at least demonstrate how to use equipment or spot exercises. There are also other people there that offer a community building experience. Regardless of whether the fellow exerciser you are chatting with is qualified or not, it is fun to talk to others about the best exercise for abdominal toning or the new protein supplement they have tried.
In which case, there are more at-home options to mimic this now than there ever have been. My much loved Fitness Blender has a community page and specialty workout groups they run. A quick search in the App Store or Google Play Store will lead to a dozen apps that can also cover these needs. There are tons of great people posting workouts on YouTube and Instagram, too.
The important point here isn’t that an at home workout is perfect or is absolutely the same as what you’d do in the gym. It’s that you are doing something. Consistently. You can’t reap the rewards of something that you don’t do. And exercise might illustrate that idea better than other things.
If you are still unsure, I’ll leave you with this final thought: I love email!
Until next time, be well friends!
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