At any given moment, countless people all over the world make a promise to themselves to begin prioritizing fitness and health moving forward. Unfortunately, they often do so by setting lofty goals accompanied by rigid, restrictive ways of achieving them. On top of that, these so-called goals are often dictated by unreliable sources.
When it comes to society’s idea of what it means to be fit and the means by which individuals are told how to achieve fitness, taking on an active lifestyle can easily seem complicated, overwhelming, and nearly out of reach when starting as a beginner.
It’s easy to get swept up by media trends with fitness influencers and celebrities promoting the cause, the $4.2 trillion dollar wellness industry with its alluring promises of the body of your dreams, and every 14-day detox, viral workout craze, and overpriced supplement powder in between.
The question remains as to how we sift through this overabundance of information and uncover what’s truly important to include in our own fitness routines.
The purpose behind the fitness and mobility program at Skyterra Young Adult is to simplify movement and clarify what’s important through the utilization of science-backed methods through intentional means.
What does this mean? With a functional fitness focus, exercise is a tool to support us in our everyday lives. There is no big secret when it comes to improving fitness. Movement, at its core, is meaningful and intuitive and fitness comes naturally when we live the way we were meant to.
To start incorporating movement into your life today, read the three quick tips below on how you can simplify fitness and live a healthy lifestyle without all of the side chatter.
Tip Number 1: Stand Up To Sedentary Living
According to leading experts, one-third of the global population in 2020 aged 15 years and older insufficiently engages in physical activity, negatively impacting their health in a variety of ways. The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t help.
One of the things we can do to combat increased occupational sedentary behaviors like office work and the increased use of television and cell phones is to exercise in smaller periods of time throughout your day rather than expecting to move enough for one entire day in an hour chunk of time, for example.
At Skyterra Young Adult, we know that the key is working smarter, not harder, and we stand by that in our fitness programming. Long, excessive bouts of movement aren’t necessary to sustain a healthy, active lifestyle and they can often be too daunting to incorporate in the first place if you are just beginning your fitness journey.
Try this: Look for opportunities to add short spurts of activity in places and at times you might not have initially thought to add it.
- Daily walks, simple circuits, standing desks and technology breaks to engage in other hobbies could all be key components to maintaining this habit.
- Incorporate three 10-minute Movement Snacks into your day to get you out of your chair and doing what your body was made to do: move!
- In addition to regular activity, make sure to take time for intentional rest and get enough sleep to supplement these new lifestyle changes.
Tip Number 2: Prioritize Resistance Training
Strength training supports longevity and allows you to get stronger in functional ways that translate to life outside of the gym. Everyone, regardless of age and ability, can benefit from strength training.
Benefits range from better managing symptoms of disease to improved physiological benefits. The American College of Sports Medicine, the gold standard when it comes to many fitness recommendations, indicates that resistance training is often a neglected component of the average exercise regime. While strength training may seem intimidating, it does not have to be complicated.
At Skyterra Young Adult, we emphasize a clear-cut approach when it comes to strength training. Class styles are simple and make sense for our goals.
Try this:
- We recommend strength training for 30 minutes two to three times a week. This can consist of three to five sets of 12 to 15 reps of six to eight exercises that work major muscle groups.
- Use free weights, machines and resistance bands to curate a full-body workout that emphasizes form and control of each movement.
- Ditch the fads and turn your focus towards this important component of your training.
Tip Number 3: Make Sure You Actually Enjoy It!
When it comes to improving and maintaining our fitness, it’s easy to get lost in all of the things we feel we need to do and forget about what we get to do. Our bodies take on the incredible task of carrying us through whatever adventures we choose to tackle day to day, and it deserves to be rewarded with movement that feels good and actually brings us joy.
Certain movement practices won’t be sustainable if we dread doing them, so listening to our bodies and engaging in activities we enjoy is the most obvious way to maintain the habit. Some people look forward to regular walks with their dogs while others pound pavement and chase the coveted runner’s high. Some prefer to slow things down with a grounding yoga flow while others would rather blast music and dance in their kitchen as they cook.
It’s not one size fits all!
Most people find that a movement practice that engages your whole person, mind and body, is more rewarding and long-lasting than trying to implement something you have no connection to for the sake of exercising. There are endless possibilities when it comes to moving your body.
New to fitness and not quite sure what you enjoy yet? Give yourself some grace for not knowing and still having the courage to dip your toes in.
Try this:
- Venture down a couple of different avenues to see what brings you the most joy and best supports the lifestyle you’re looking to live. Grab a friend to go with you to a group fitness class that looks enticing.
- Simply get outside and enjoy movement in the fresh air and sunlight.
Starting something new is naturally accompanied with discomfort and challenges, but with the right mindset and a simple, straightforward plan, fitness doesn’t have to be nearly as complicated as it’s often made out to be. What’s most important is that we are moving our bodies frequently and purposefully. Seek information from reputable sources as opposed to often unreliable ones in the media and most importantly, tune in and listen to what your body might be trying to tell you. You have an innate wisdom that’s just waiting to be explored and tapped into.
Maintaining movement as a young adult and throughout one’s lifetime is possible through the whole-body, intuitive approach we take at Skyterra Young Adult. For more information on our admissions process, click here.
