Physical Activity and Movement Part 14

Putting It All Together

Well, we’ve covered a lot. I started this series by talking about how simple physical movement can be, but some of you may think that it sounds complicated. I want to back up and remind you that it’s really not. We’re not doing everything every day. We’re simply developing a pattern of movement that’s ingrained into our daily and weekly habits so we can maintain physical health and well-being and live our longest, healthiest lifespan.

This involves being attentive to our posture and breathing, as well as paying attention to our body. It’s simply a form of self-care and a form of awareness.

It involves moving more and sitting less. We can do that every day.

It involves once a week doing something for strength and some aerobic conditioning.

That’s all.

Then throughout the week, it involves stretching, breathing, getting massages, foam-rolling, and doing things to help our body feel better. It’s really pretty simple. You can easily build a program that works for you.

What A Weekly Program Can Look Like

It might be that on Mondays you move a lot throughout your day, focus on your posture and do some stretches.

Tuesday may be your strength day, where you pay attention to your movement and do your one strength workout of the week.

Wednesdays may be a day of yoga, active stretching, and taking a nice long walk.

Thursday may be your sprint day, incorporated with a nice walk as well as some stretching.

Friday might be a day where you get in the sauna, get a massage, and just do some core strengthening.

Saturday may be a day where you just play games with your kids, or your friends, and enjoy a sport or activity.

You get the idea. It’s not that you have to do all of this all the time, or that you have some six-week plan that you have to follow. This just becomes the way you live your life. If there’s a week where your strength training gets disrupted because something came up, well, pick it up the next week. Your body will be okay. You just have to make it consistent over time.

Doctor’s Conclusion

I promise you’ll never regret this. Honoring this principle of your body’s design will provide you with health and well-being. It will help you maintain a healthy weight. It’ll help you to feel really good.

Also, remember that it doesn’t matter whether it’s winter or summer. You can do these activities indoors or outdoors, and in any type of weather.

The final piece of advice on this topic is to try and do this outside as much as possible. Our bodies were designed to be outdoors more often than indoors. Exposure to sunlight, and to the elements, is very good for you (to a certain point!). Your body is designed to heat itself, cool itself, to protect itself from exposure. It’s actually quite resilient. Take every opportunity to be outdoors and engage the physical activity paradigm in actual nature. This really will benefit you.

Now, go move and be healthy.

If you’re interested in learning more about physical movement or a more personalized approach to healthcare, order my book Authentic Health, like my page on Facebook, and follow me on Instagram!