I hated sport at school. I recall being an active child but that was probably because we weren’t allowed too much TV. We had a backyard and played with other kids in the nearby streets after school until 6pm, the general consensus time for tea. I didn’t like athletics club. I wasn’t fast or explosive. Being a tall adolescent I was always allocated to goal defence in netball which turned me off netball for life. So I wasn’t sporty, I wasn’t a natural and always thought of myself as clumsy and on the larger side of skinny. .
I have to finally admit it. Love brought me to exercise. It wasn’t until I met my now husband (30 years married) that I started to exercise for the sake of exercise, well to spend time with him really, the exercise was ancillary. On most nights he’d run the Tan track after work so I started running with him. It nearly killed me at first but I eventually got the hang of it and started to look forward to the run as well the time spent together. It took about 30 minutes all up and we got to see Melbourne in all the seasons. It took a while for the penny to drop and I began to realise I felt much better after that run, clearer in my mind and more aware of my body. Alive and invigorated. On the weekends we’d take a longer run along the Yarra River to Richmond or the other direction around Fawkner Park. Being in the pre activewear era, old t-shirts and shorts did the trick. Our routine was simple, time efficient and effective. Of course then I went overboard and rode the wave of aerobics, got myself some bike shorts, a cut off singlet and some expensive spongy Asics. Since then I have sampled the full gamut of exercise options and fads the fitness industry has proffered up in an attempt to be fitter, stronger, leaner and I guess, ultimately healthier. .
Recently I’ve been reflecting on the history of the fitness industry in an attempt understand how we as a society have arrived at our current perception of health and fitness. It seems that in the eternal quest to be fitter and stronger, health is often no longer the actual outcome. .
As it turns out we (as a population) only began to intentionally seek out forms of exercise for health in the early 1900’s. After the World Wars there was a new attraction to exercise and athleticism. Margaret Thatcher supported public gymnasiums to create a healthy population and Arnold Schwarzenegger is credited with launching the body- building craze that swept the world (watch 'Pumping Iron 1977' for the full story on that). Commercial gymnasiums multiplied and fitness became commodified. The goal of the gym changed from being a way to improve and sustain health in any climatic condition, to exploiting of the desire within people to keep fit (Andreasson et al. 2014). An unfortunate, lasting legacy of these times is that exercise and physical activity are often seen as an external component of life, time consuming, expensive, mind numbing, repetitive, painful and often debilitating. Heavy on equipment and light on coaching. . I’m suggesting a return to the basics. A return to finding what you love. A return to a simple and daily effort of being physical. I offer my clients the chance to fall in love with exercise and being active! I do this by first listening, really listening, to what they tell me about their lives, their likes and dislikes, their activity history and what their day looks like. Then I create specific, simple plans that are easily incorporated into their day. I adapt these plans whenever necessary based on our ongoing chats about how they are experiencing the program. My plans aren’t necessarily easy, but they are simple, do-able. I help them discover what types of activity they enjoy (I promise, there is always something!) to enable them to become healthy and stay strong. .
Let me create a personalised way into keep you active. Let's find what you like and give it some context and direction to ensure all of the health benefits are being elicited from the program for you. Everybody responds differently to exercise. We all have our preferred ways to be active. Sometimes it just has to be presented in a way that clicks, that makes sense to you and includes backup and support and chats and guidance. Yes, it may hurt and yes it can be challenging, but that’s how our bodies thrive. It’s how we have evolved. It’s our natural state. It’s how we stay strong and how we enjoy life and stay well as we age. .
If you feel you may have lost the way and don’t know where to start, send me a message, an SOS, and we can help you find your way back to health and an active life.
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