Nurturing a love for movement

Nurturing a love for movement

April 28, 2013

By: Gina Yoryet Roman

There were a few ideas floating in my mind just a little while ago, which made me debate on what to write about, but overall, I was struggling on how to get started. Sometimes the problem with me, is not the lack of will to give life to my ideas, but the myriad of activities and my always shifting schedule. In my life, there’s no such thing as an eight to five schedule. I can be sitting in front of my computer at 5, 6am, and teaching at 8, 9, 10pm, at noon or random times. On top of that, keeping myself updated with world events is on my daily to do list, even if I only read the headlines or if I quickly skim through one or two articles.

Health and fitness updates are something I am very attentive to, which is how I came up with this title today: ‘Nurturing a love for movement.’ In 2009 when many things were not going in my favor, I encountered a book called ‘Stand Up for Your Life,’ By Cheryl Richardson, one of the most acclaimed motivational coaches worldwide. That reading was a great boost that led me to contact her even when I was invaded by skepticism given the reason that she would NOT contact me. Little did I know that she would personally reply to my email almost instantaneously. We quickly touched base on why I had dropped her a line and in consequence to that, she scheduled an interview with me on Hayhouse Radio, Coach on call.  In her program, radio for your soul, she helps people around the globe to overcome and make the best out of any tragic event in their life. 

Today, right before I started forming this post, I opened my email, and the first message I was lured to, was Cheryl Richardson's newsletter I signed up for before my interview in 2009. ‘Learn the secret to falling in love with daily exercise,’ Topic of the week, By Cheryl Richardson.

Topic of the Week Learn the secret to falling in love with daily exercise.     Over the last couple of months I've become quite taken with daily exercise.  I know, I know, it seems a bit crazy to imagine enjoying working out, but it's happening.  Once I got back into the swing of things after a long year of travel, I quickly experienced the enormous benefits of moving my body every day.  Like any new habit, there's a natural path of development for affecting change.  Once I decided to create a daily routine, I dusted off an old newsletter I wrote about the four stages of developing the discipline to exercise every day.  As I reviewed the info, it really made a difference, and I hope it inspires you to do the one thing that will have a huge, positive impact on your health and longevity - MOVING! Let's take a look....    Stage One - Let's get this over with, shall we? At first, exercise can feel like a chore. After all, it takes effort to move your body, especially if you've been sedentary for a while. As you start to exercise, you may find yourself counting the minutes on the treadmill, or waging an inner battle with yourself about whether or not to sneak out of the gym early. When I was at this stage of the process, two things helped. The first was using the support of a partner. When I was tempted to "just skip this one workout," my sister, Kerri, my workout partner, challenged me to stick with it and follow through. The second was that I didn't allow my perfectionism (one of my top fitness obstacles) to create a negative association with exercise. For example, in the past when I'd start working out, I'd do things like raise the elevation of the treadmill too high, thinking that it would quicken my progress. This only caused my legs to feel like lead the next day. Or, I'd force myself to complete every single minute of my cardio routine even though I felt exhausted and needed a rest. Although it's important that a fitness program be progressive to build strength and endurance, allowing yourself to be driven by a perfectionist "inner task master" is setting yourself up to fail. Stage Two - I'm not thrilled, but I'll do it anyway. As you keep at it, you'll start to experience the many benefits of exercise. You'll notice that you have more energy throughout the day. Your moods level out, and you feel better about yourself (and your life). The critical voice that monitors your weight and how you look will start to quiet down. And, there's a good chance that you'll also notice a significant decrease in your appetite and stress level. As a result, you'll feel clear-headed, and more able to focus during work or while performing your daily tasks.  Although working out still feels like work during this stage, you focus more on the end result (how great you feel afterwards) than on the task at hand. Stage Three - Wow, this ain't so bad after all. Once I'd been exercising for eight weeks, I not only felt good after a workout, I started to feel good while I was doing it. My cardiovascular endurance increased, and I noticed that I could run for longer periods of time on the treadmill during my interval training (alternating running and walking to raise my heart rate). The amount of weight I could lift also increased and I started to see muscle tone. I still remember the day I stood in front of my bathroom mirror flexing my biceps and seeing definition not only in my arms, but also in my shoulders! At this stage, seeing and feeling results will fuel your desire to honor and strengthen your body. You'll love how you feel! Stage Four - Exercise is my secret weapon. When you get to this stage you realize that besides being the key to health and longevity, exercise builds self-esteem and gives you the ability to live life on your terms. You recognize that, along with building your muscles, you've developed discipline - the key to making healthy choices in all areas of your life.  At this stage you'll want to exercise. For example, when I feel overwhelmed during the day, I jump on my elliptical trainer and do a quick 20-minute workout to clear my head, burn off stress, and get focused.  When you reach the stage where exercise becomes your secret weapon, you'll be amazed at how easy it fits into your schedule. Once you develop the discipline of exercise, you'll still have days when you'd rather not go to the gym. But the difference will be that on those days, you can afford to stay home knowing that you can trust yourself to get right back on track the next day. The key to reaching stage four is to focus on taking small, progressive steps. For example, if you're at stage one, just focus on your next workout. When you feel like you've lost your motivation, use this mantra:     "IN ORDER TO GET FROM A TO Z, I ONLY NEED TO TAKE STEP B!" I've become someone who works out nearly every day.  I've made it a "joyful priority."  Since I claim that one of my top values is health, I've learned to put my commitment where my mouth is.  When health is a value, and you understand and respect the stages of development, it's easy to make the time. Ready to move?  Take the challenge below...

As you keep at it, you'll start to experience the many benefits of exercise. You'll notice that you have more energy throughout the day. Your moods level out, and you feel better about yourself (and your life). The critical voice that monitors your weight and how you look will start to quiet down. And, there's a good chance that you'll also notice a significant decrease in your appetite and stress level. As a result, you'll feel clear-headed, and more able to focus during work or while performing your daily tasks. 

Although working out still feels like work during this stage, you focus more on the end result (how great you feel afterwards) than on the task at hand.

Stage Three - Wow, this ain't so bad after all.

Once I'd been exercising for eight weeks, I not only felt good after a workout, I started to feel good while I was doing it. My cardiovascular endurance increased, and I noticed that I could run for longer periods of time on the treadmill during my interval training (alternating running and walking to raise my heart rate). The amount of weight I could lift also increased and I started to see muscle tone. I still remember the day I stood in front of my bathroom mirror flexing my biceps and seeing definition not only in my arms, but also in my shoulders! At this stage, seeing and feeling results will fuel your desire to honor and strengthen your body. You'll love how you feel!

Stage Four - Exercise is my secret weapon.

When you get to this stage you realize that besides being the key to health and longevity, exercise builds self-esteem and gives you the ability to live life on your terms. You recognize that, along with building your muscles, you've developed discipline - the key to making healthy choices in all areas of your life. 

At this stage you'll want to exercise. For example, when I feel overwhelmed during the day, I jump on my elliptical trainer and do a quick 20-minute workout to clear my head, burn off stress, and get focused. 

When you reach the stage where exercise becomes your secret weapon, you'll be amazed at how easy it fits into your schedule.

Once you develop the discipline of exercise, you'll still have days when you'd rather not go to the gym. But the difference will be that on those days, you can afford to stay home knowing that you can trust yourself to get right back on track the next day.

The key to reaching stage four is to focus on taking small, progressive steps. For example, if you're at stage one, just focus on your next workout. When you feel like you've lost your motivation, use this mantra: 

  

"IN ORDER TO GET FROM A TO Z, I ONLY NEED TO
TAKE STEP B!"

I've become someone who works out nearly every day.  I've made it a "joyful priority."  Since I claim that one of my top values is health, I've learned to put my commitment where my mouth is.  When health is a value, and you understand and respect the stages of development, it's easy to make the time.

Ready to move?  Take the challenge below...

Take Action Challenge So, what's your step B?  If you value health and have a desire to up the ante when it comes to moving your body, decide right now what your next step could be and take it.  You will love the way moving makes you feel!

I couldn’t have agreed with all her points, thus this one was the most important one: “When you reach the stage where exercise becomes your secret weapon, you'll be amazed at how easy it fits into your schedule.”

For health and fitness enthusiasts exercise becomes a need, a clean and purifying lifestyle to never forsake. An excellent adjective that couch potatoes use to describe us hyped up individuals, is, “obsessed.” Their intentions don’t mean anything because I’ve adopted the life I’ve always wanted, ever since I was sixteen and the entity I will carry on till I can no longer move. 

Even during these dark moments after coming down with a terrible pain on both knee caps will I stop nurturing my love for movement. This past week I was on the verge of tears on Tuesday because of the unbearable pain and swelling on both knees and calfs. Yesterday while at therapy, my physical therapist and now good friend of mine, told me that the pain is not related to the surgery but it could be stress, fatigue, or other overwhelming factors. I have another few therapy sessions before I see my doctor next week to see what is happening. 

Spending long hours sitting in front of the computer working can be one factor, though it won’t be an impending cause to give up my active lifestyle. I refuse to belong to the typical  description of a writer, or someone who spends a lot of time utilizing a computer - overweight or obese, someone who is always sitting around. I do fall under that classification, but I sure make up for it any chance I get by going on power walks four or five times a week or scheduling very careful weekly workout sessions. What I am trying to say, is that there is really not a secret to falling in love with exercising. All you have to do is have a lot of mental will and really want it in order to make it happen. In reality there’s no sacrifice involved in it. If you first and foremost value your health enough, you will need to learn to take care of your temple, and sooner or later physical movement will become part of your daily tasks until you can no longer live without it. 

Subsequent to reading Cheryl Richardson’s topic of the week, I won’t desist because I’ve never been one to give up regardless of my physical limitations. All I can do is pray, have faith, take each day at once, continue fighting my limitations, insist, resist, persist and don't be daunted by my fears, even through gloom and doom. 

My main focus right now, is to reach physical and emotional wellness to go on with my normal routine. There is a photo session lying ahead within a matter of weeks. In reality, I am not ready for it and I am hoping that it is postponed once again, but if it doesn’t, I will do my best despite my insecurities. I will prepare myself mentally. True, I would like to have more definition on my arms, abs and legs but I am most definitely not going to punish myself for it as I am still doing my best regardless of the pain, so everything will work out just fine. 

With this thought pounding on my head, I don’t know why women have always felt insecure with their bodies, we are never content with our natural gifts. Too thin, too beautiful, too perfect, too tall, too short, will never be good enough for us. The one to blame, is our high expecting, scrutinizing, and critical society. We always want to look like the super model on TV, yet we ignore that every single body is different. We come in different shapes and sizes, we all possess a particular shade of beauty in our own special way so we have to lay low and appreciate the simple fact of being women!