Don’t Want To Exercise? Let The Reasons Why Guide You
It’s so important to move. From supporting digestion and strengthening muscles and bones to boosting your energy levels, immune system, and happy hormones exercise supports all body systems and mental, emotional and spiritual health. We may know these benefits, however it can still be easy to forget to make time for it, feel put off by fatigue, lack of time or a troublesome knee we don’t want to worsen.
The reasons we hear ourselves say/think for not exercising can offer a doorway to further understanding our current needs if we explore these reasons in an open-minded, self-loving way.
Too tired? It’s good to question and explore why you are so tired and what needs to be addressed to relieve this issue. Chronic tiredness may be a prompt to check in with yourself or a health practitioner. Or in other words don’t feel you have to just put up with it, or that you are simply a ‘tired person’. Exercise will help you sleep more deeply so you wake up refreshed, even starting off with a daily walk around the block will be very beneficial for mind and body. You don’t have to be perfect at exercise to be acceptable/good enough.
No time? This thought is usually accompanied by stress or feeling overburdened/overworked. Maybe exploring this with a good friend will help you see where and how you can create more time just for you to dedicate to supporting your health. It can be easy to find we are spreading ourselves too thin – so many people do it so it seems very normal. But is it healthy to have no time for ourselves?
Aches and pains? This can become a good motivator to address any long-term pains we have been ignoring, we all deserve to enjoy movement pain-free. Maybe you are eating too much inflammation-producing foods and that is causing a build-up of toxins in the body – wheat, cow-based dairy and sugar are the usual suspects here. Experiment with cutting these down or out completely for 2 weeks and reassess the pain levels when moving. We can be so attached to foods for different reasons, chances are large appetites for sugar/wheat/dairy point to unmet emotional needs hiding under the surface of our awareness.
Recent surgery or illness? You can take it slow to support your recovery with walking, qi gong, swimming, or just deep breathing exercises and meditation. Visualisation is another tool many athletes have used to recover. We can literally gain benefit from imagining ourselves exercising in a way that uses all the senses, in a way that our mind believes it’s real.
Feeling uninspired? Think back to the types of movement you enjoyed as a child or have always wanted to do. What works best for you – group exercise or solo? Do you prefer a challenge to motivate you like a charity run? Again starting small and building on the momentum is an excellent way into a fulfilling movement routine, think progress not perfection.
Too stressed? Your blood group offers a key to appreciate how exercise can support your responses to stress that are best suited to you. To find out what yours is you can buy an Eldon card kit online and do it at home, it is cheap and involves a tiny pinprick to gather blood for the test. It’ll take you back to your biology class days at school!
Dr Peter J. D’Adamo hones in on suitable forms of exercise for each blood group in his book Eat Right for your Type. Here is an outline for each group:
Blood type O (hunter-gatherer) - high intensity exercise where the heart rate is elevated for 30 mins four times a week or more. Suggestions made include aerobics, swimming, jogging, weight training, cycling and brisk walking. Start small and build up to gain the benefits of lowered stress, positive moods and more energy.
Blood type A (the cultivator) – calming, focusing exercises are beneficial 3 or 4 times a week. Good examples of appropriate exercises are tai chi, hatha yoga, martial arts, low impact aerobics.
Blood type B (the nomad) – a mix of intense workouts (3 days a week) and relaxation exercise (2 days a week) suit best. Think aerobics, tennis, hiking, jogging, golf, qi gong, yoga, to get the right balance.
Blood type AB (the enigma) – exercises to promote calm and focus with an emphasis on stretching 3 or 4 sessions a week. So 15 minutes of stretching should be part of each exercise session, examples include aikido, yoga, dance, golf, cycling and swimming.
As a blood type O myself, I favour aerobics, brisk walking, spin classes and dance for cardio, while I also love kundalini yoga and qi gong to support my spiritual well being, strength, flexibility and organ toning. I do notice that I feel more energised and can sleep more soundly when I include high intensity movement into my routine, so can vouch for Dr D’Adamo’s encouragement to blood type Os!