As with many things in life there are ups and downs. This goes for relationships, jobs, family and health. And as a personal health coach, I had a period of my own ups and downs with health and fitness. The down for fitness began when I started a family and had a major move across the country and began a new job, I was simply exhausted. Any kind of exercise, particularly a traditional, 60 minute workout was the last thing on my mind. I know the amazing benefits of exercise. I preach it everyday. But there was a mental block, accountability and motivation.
Over time, the UP side with fitness was when I managed to incorporate every day movements into a rhythm. This wasn’t a squat or a lunge or a pushup. It was simply picking up stuff off the ground. I mimic’d that movement when I was waiting for my coffee to drip. “Ding”, a light bulb went off. Why am I not doing this regularly. I’m sort of doing a “deadlift” exercise. Now if I could make it easy for myself to pair up another movement with something I usually do, I don’t have to schedule myself a 30min workout. This became a no brainer solution that required no extra time for me to do something. And that something was so simple and trivial and began my turn around. I researched the benefits of sporadic simple movements. And guess what, it’s backed by science. NEAT, is the scientific term, Non-Exercise Activity Thermogensis.
From the US National Library of Medicine, “NEAT, Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise. It ranges from the energy expended walking to work, typing, performing yard work, undertaking agricultural tasks and fidgeting. Even trivial physical activities increase metabolic rate substantially and it is the cumulative impact of a multitude of exothermic actions that culminate in an individual’s daily NEAT. It is, therefore, not surprising that NEAT explains a vast majority of an individual’s non-resting energy needs. “
Basically, what the theory of NEAT explains when you do any type of movement away from what you believe is “traditional exercise” it uses more calorie and adds it throughout your entire day. So you don’t have to spend one full hour running on the treadmill to get results. I have nothing against traditional type workouts whether is body building, crossfit, HIIT, or circuit training. Those are terrific styles of fitness and if you’re at that stage of wanting a workout, do it.
But if you’re at the I want to get off my butt but don’t really want to stage, I’m talking to you. You the unmotivated, exhausted from being pulled in many different directions. You who knows exercise would probably make you feel better but you’d rather hit the power button on your tv remote. You are going through similar struggles that I have personally been through. I have heard so many similar stories from many others that I wanted you to discover what will really work, so I’m sharing with you bite-sized workouts in the How to Kickstart Your Fat Loss Guide. And I’m giving it away for FREE. I know what a struggle it is to get up off the coach and start something new. As a health professional I want play my part to share and educate and help. It’s not an easy thing to make a change and think differently than what the fitness industry has bombarded you with. But this FREE GUIDE it will begin a positive transformation to your life.
Joe Cheng – Personal Online Wellness Coach
joe.cheng@stayfitanywhere.com