A relationship with exercise

GCP guest blog

Over my years of being on or off a diet I have met lots of people who, they say, have “The magic bullet”—that pill, potion, eating plan or exercise system which, if only I’d subscribe would make me slim almost immediately. Then there have been the other people I’ve met who are experts in their field and know that in order to get from morbidly obese to slim I had to make the commitment to myself. Richard, is one of those people. I don’t run, but he has been unfailingly supportive—and he’s given me tons of useful advice about his area of expertise. Below he shares some of that advice with us all. Read and enjoy! Glenys

This morning when I woke up, I didn’t feel like going out for a run.  It was getting warm, and my partner and I had had a couple of glasses of wine last night. I just felt like another hour or so in bed would be a much better idea. But I got up and went and I had a lovely run and felt much better for it when I got back. 

You might say, ‘You would say that, you’re a coach’. And it’s true, I am. But I’m also a realist and I know that it doesn’t work like that for everyone. What I do know though, is that I’ve often not felt like going for a run, but I’ve never come back wishing I hadn’t gone. Well maybe once when I lost my door key to the flat which I’d just moved into that weekend and had no way of getting back in, but that’s a story for another time.

There is a period, in my view, of about 6–8 weeks when you start any new form of exercising where every time feels really tough like it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever tried. However, this will pass and it will get easier. After a long period of injury, I have been able to train fairly consistently during the pandemic and I am now in the place where an easy run is actually just that, ‘easy’ and I am starting to do faster sessions. 

But there are a few key rules here:

Start sensibly. Get someone to help you with a programme that eases you in slowly, with whatever exercise you are taking. But work with someone you trust, professional or otherwise. If you stick a question on facebook, you will get 20 or more responses. Some good, some awful, but most slightly different from each other leaving you more confused than when you started.

Consistency is key. If you aim to go out 3 times a week, then that’s what you do. It is the accumulation of good days, rather than any one good or bad session, that makes the difference in the end.

Increase slowly, the 10% rule is a good one. Increase your distance or volume by no more than 10% at a time and ease back a tad every 4-6 weeks to give yourself an easier week.

Rest is important. All adaption to exercise happens at rest. So while you take it easy, your body is actually working to prepare you for harder work that is likely to follow.

Don’t ignore niggles. If something is not right, get it checked out. A few days’ rest is way better than ignoring something which leads to a bigger injury which keeps you out for weeks or months. 

Nutrition. You have to fuel your exercise. Too many people attempt to do hard exercise on very little food and often no carbohydrates (which is stored as glycogen in the muscles and is your body’s preferred energy source at higher intensity). A sensible and varied diet containing all the food groups is perfect when you are starting out.

Mindset is also key:

·        what is your relationship with exercise, 

·        do you have negative thoughts about it, 

·        how can you re-frame those thoughts and ‘turn that frown upside down’?

 What is your goal? Think about why you are getting involved in exercise in the first place. If it’s for health and weight loss what are the consequences of not doing it? Sometimes the pain of not doing something needs to outweigh the pain of doing it to provide the motivation to get going. 

The biggest step is getting out of the door, but once you have done that the rest will be ok and get easier over time. And I guarantee, if you stick at it, you will feel so much better for it and the health benefits are immense.

I have heard it said that people will emerge from the pandemic as either ‘a hunk, a chunk or a drunk’ (Glenys see https://www.glenyschatterley.uk.com/three-options-a-hunk-a-chunk-or-a-drunk/) which tickled me, and most people have jokingly replied, ‘well two out of three’s not bad’. A relationship with alcohol is probably a subject for another blog but in NLP we talk about people moving ‘towards’ what they want or ‘away from’ what they don’t want. If you can hold the thought that you are ‘moving towards’ being the person you want to be, you will already be well on the way.

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Richard Pickering is a personal and running coach, who uses the skills and techniques he uses to help people improve their running, to enable businesspeople to get their business on track and moving forward. He is in the midst of rebranding to Running in Mind, so for now you can read more about him here: https://www.run2bu.co.uk/