Play Well

Nurture a healthier relationship with physical activity.

Exercise has long been viewed with the mantra “No Pain No Gain.” Have you started a path to exercise and it only last a few days, weeks, months? Or do you love to move but want to do so more efficiently. We all lead busy lives and want to find more movement in our day but do not always have the time or feel like pounding ourselves into the pavement.

Move with intention -

I have always loved to move and play. As I grew up I found so much joy in movement. At age 22 I entered the fitness world and started my journey of personal training and group fitness and to this day that is my passion. But along my path I started to feel a need to change how I moved and the duration of such movement. I was a huge fan of heavy weight lifting, bootcamps, and any hard core class I could lead or take, and I still do love these styles of exercise. I was very healthy but was also starting to stiffen up and as life got busier I did not have 3 hours free to spend in the gym. I noticed I would be exhausted most of the day after 60 minutes of intense workouts. Something needed adjusted, and that was my mindset.

NEAT-

What is NEAT - Non-exercise activity thermogenesis - basically just movement in your day from dancing while cleaning, to gesturing while in conversation, to parking a little further away for some extra steps. Understand I would work out 3x a day or more and have very little energy left for NEAT. Exercise is only a small portion of our calorie burn NEAT is a huge part, so moving more was now the step I wanted to take to start my journey.

I needed real movement and more play in my routine, in my life-

Movement- refers to any way you move your body, not just movement done as part of formal exercise. In intuitive eating, there’s a focus on joyful movement (i.e. movement for pleasure) and being intuitive with movement (i.e. applying principles of intuitive eating to movement, by tuning into what feels good for your body). While it certainly can include movement that’s done in a formal or gym setting, movement is more inclusive, and could also include things like hiking, gardening, stretching for a few minutes between classes/meetings, walking the dog, riding the bike to a friends house, physical therapy exercises, or cleaning the house. Because, when it comes to physical and mental health, all movement counts.

If you feel like you could benefit from being more active and playing well perhaps it is time for some changes.