Posted: 05/12/2014 8:21 am EDT Updated:
05/12/2014 8:59 am EDT
Especially among people with a history of eating disorders, a healthy
relationship to exercise is “just as pertinent as having a healthy relationship
with food,” says Marjorie Nolan Cohn, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of
Nutrition & Dietetics and an American College of Sports Medicine certified
Health Fitness Specialist. These days, we hear almost as much about the health
risks of excessive exercise as we do lack of physical activity.
"One end of it is avoidance of exercise, versus the other extreme
extreme, which is too much exercise," says Jennifer E. Carter, Ph.D., the
director of sport psychology and the Ohio State University Sports Medicine
Center. "Balanced exercise finds the middle ground."
Some of us need an extra push to get off the couch, or some reigning in
once in a while. For others, finding the balance between too much and too
little physical activity comes easily. Below are a few things these people do
differently.
1. People with a healthy
relationship to exercise know the difference between a good burn and true pain.
"You hear so much about the whole 'no pain, no gain'
attitude," says Cohn. "I think we really have to redefine what pain
is." Yes, you want to feel like you worked hard, you want some fatigue,
you might even relish your second-day soreness. But feeling discomfort in
joints, or feeling so exhausted you just want to drop at the end of the day is
not normal, says Cohn. Pain can be serious, and pushing through could cause
worse injury. People with a health relationship to exercise know when to say
when.
2. They take rest days.
And when they are in pain or are exhausted, they know it's time to skip
a sweat session. "It's the same as that chocolate cake," says Cohn.
"It's delicious, you want to have another piece, but you know it's not
good for you, and you need to stop eating now." No matter how much you
love working out, there is such a thing as too much exercise, and the people
with the healthiest relationships to exercise enjoy their off days. Carter
recommends taking at least one a week.
3. They don't exercise to eat,
they eat to exercise.
Exercising purely to "influence weight or shape", says
Carter, can be a slippery slope into obsession and disorder. For a healthy
athlete or exerciser, food is fuel, not the enemy. Our bodies require a bare
minimum amount of calories simply to survive, and we need to provide extra
energy for physical activity. Rather than exercising "to allow themselves
to eat," says Carter, people with a healthy relationship to exercise eat
to allow themselves to exercise. Eating whatever you want just because you
exercised today doesn't cut it either, even if you just want to maintain
weight, she says. Of course we'd never say the occasional brownie was
completely off limits, but "'occasional' doesn't mean every dinner
warrants a dessert!" Carter says.
4. They can go with the flow.
Many experts recommend scheduling exercise into your day like you would
any other appointment to help you stick with your fitness plan. But there also
needs to be some flexibility in the scheduling. One sign it's become too
restrictive is if straying from the usual routine causes extreme upset. Take
traveling, says Carter. Someone with a healthy relationship to exercise won't
panic if her day-to-day routine is a little off. Someone with an unhealthy
relationship to exercise might skip out on important events or exciting moments
or wake up drastically early to fit in a workout. "The exercise becomes
number one," says Carter.
On those days where a regular workout gets bumped from the schedule,
Cohn helps clients keep things in perspective by focusing on other ways in
which they are physically active. Even walking just a few more steps a day --
whether it’s by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or commuting by foot
-- is still physical, and can help ease anxiety over skipping a sweat session.
5. They know what they like.
"Balanced or healthy exercise is exercise that you like, not
exercise that you dislike," says Carter. "If you're doing something
that you hate, you're not going to keep doing it." That might mean running
marathons for some and practicing Bikram yoga for others, but what's important
is that you don't feel like you're torturing yourself -- and that you don't
feel obligated to try every single fitness fad.
The same principle applies to exercise intensity, says Carter. Some
people love high intensity workouts like CrossFit, and others will simply find
moderate intensity movement more tolerable, she says.
6. But they still mix things up.
"Doing the elliptical every day at the same intensity level is
just a repetitive motion," says Cohn, not one you're going to see huge
results from. People with the healthiest relationships to exercise balance
their workout routines with a mixture of activities, whether that's high and
low impact, cardio and strength training, or arm days and leg days, she says.
And it doesn't require pricey sessions with a personal trainer or a degree in
exercise science to add a little more balance to your regular routine, she
says. Simply reading the directions on a machine at the gym you've never tried
before, for example, can be surprisingly helpful, she says.
7. They do it on their terms.
Along with finding a fitness plan they enjoy, people with a healthy
relationship to exercise also work out when and where they like. Yes, there are
big benefits to a morning workout, like fewer cravings and greater energy, but
it comes down to personal preference, says Carter. "Some people like to
exercise in the morning, some people hate mornings," she says. "You
don't have to force it."
8. They seek support.
Everyone has their off days, even people with a healthy relationship to
exercise. Whether it's a lack of motivation to stick to healthy exercise or a
compulsion to overdo it, Carter says one of the most effective safety nets is
having a workout buddy. "It's harder to do the compulsive thing when
you've got someone with you to encourage something a little more moderate, and
it's a great motivator for [others]," she says. Of course, if exercise --
or lack of it -- is truly interfering with someone's health, it may be safer to
consult a dietitian, a physician or a mental health professional, "or a
mixture of all three," says Carter.
"We know so much about the mental health benefits of
exercise," says Carter, and yet many unbalanced exercisers only consider
breaking a sweat helpful for altering weight or shape. For many, exercise is an
effective coping method for stress, anxiety and depression, and healthy
exercisers harness these powers for good.
 |
| Natural Hair Care |
 |
| Liquid Castile Soap |
No comments:
Post a Comment