Whole Body Wellness

Is Your Exercise Working For You?
I talk to my clients a lot about their exercise because I feel it is crucial to whole body wellness. Exercise is great for stress relief, a healthy heart, strong bones, balance, and weight loss. I am not a personal trainer, but I have read a lot about exercise and I’ve experimented for years with my own workout routine. (Of course, you always want to consult your physician before embarking on a new exercise routine.)

Here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself:

1. Have I changed my workout routine lately?
We are creatures of habit and once we find a routine that we enjoy and feel comfortable with, we tend to stick with it. It’s natural. The downside of this is that our bodies are very efficient and adjust quickly to new physical demands. This means that over time, our body doesn’t have to work as hard to complete the same activity.

2. Am I doing cardio and strength training?
I commonly speak to clients who do cardio or strength training, but not both. I personally believe the best results come from a combination of the two, not to mention that both are important for our physical health. Cardio is good for our heart, and strength training is great for our bones. Strength training helps you build muscle, and one pound of muscle burns more calories than one pound of fat. Cardio helps you burn calories and fat. And, as you build more muscle, your cardio is burning more and more fat.

3. How much am I challenging myself?
Everyone has different goals around exercise, and I do believe there is a benefit to more relaxing, and meditative exercise. But I also know that I see changes in my body when I do workouts that really make me sweat and leave me feeling like I couldn’t possibly do more. You want to be safe about this so you don’t injure yourself, but it’s about pushing yourself a little bit outside your comfort zone. You don’t necessarily have to do this for your entire workout. A few minutes might be all you need.