S E17: Ep 17 – Movement is medicine and exercise is good for you – who knew?
Think of exercise as movement medicine rather than something that will leave you sweating and breathless, and you are more likely to do it.
In this episode of the Pain Free Living podcast, osteopath Bob Allen talks about the benefits of exercise but from a different perspective than the usual fitness industry conversations and he never says “No Pain, No Gain” (mostly because it’s not true!).
The fitness industry always seems to prioritise how you look and aesthetic outcomes over any actual health benefits. While there is nothing wrong with having a ‘Love Island’ body most people just want to be able to go for a walk, play with their children or climb the stairs without getting out of breath or getting achy joints.
Thinking of movement as medicine and keeping movements simple makes exercise more palatable and accessible than the image of lying in a sweaty heap in the corner of a gym or endless hours on an exercise bike.
I like to give activities that can be done at home with no equipment but I’m equally happy providing advice on what you can do if you like the gym, swimming, running or any form of exercise. It doesn’t have to be hard, and even five minutes per day can give health benefits.
Adding more physical activity into your daily routine, and most importantly, making it fu,n means you are more likely to start and carry on.
The episode ends with a reminder that the journey towards fitness is not about sticking to rigid standards, but needs to be personal and enjoyable, and it will lead to a better, healthier life.
Takeaways:
- The podcast highlights the fact that consistent exercise can significantly reduce the risk of various health issues, such as heart disease and cancer.
- Listeners are urged to reconsider their perception of exercise, recognising it as a fun, beneficial activity rather than a grind that you have to get through.
- Even five minutes per day can lead to substantial health improvements over time, and if you can’t spare five minutes a day, what are you doing with your life?
- Exercise has to be fun, otherwise, you are unlikely to stick to it.
- The World Health Organisation recommends specific amounts of exercise, but any movement will be beneficial regardless of meeting those exact guidelines.
- Incorporating exercise into your daily routine, such as pairing it with existing habits like before a shower or your morning brew, will make it more achievable and feel less daunting.
More about Bob
You can find out more about Bob and why he became an osteopath here https://bit.ly/BobsOsteoStory
Sign up for his very popular Monthly Pain Free Living newsletter here https://bit.ly/PFL_newsletter_signup
If you want to follow Bob on social media this is the place for you https://linktr.ee/Painfreeliving
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Pain Free Living Podcast with me, your host, Bob Allen.
Speaker A:ople to get out of pain since:Speaker A:Today I'm going to talk about something that you will have heard of and, yeah, maybe a slightly different take on it.
Speaker A:So if I was to offer you a pill that would reduce your risk of heart problems, reduce your risk of cancer, reduce the risk of developing dementia, it would improve the strength of your bones, it would improve your mood, improve your sleep and a whole host of other beneficial things.
Speaker A:If I could put that in a pill and if I could offer you that pill, would you take it?
Speaker A:If that pill, that pill doesn't actually exist, but if it did, I can guarantee there'd be a queue a mile long just to get it.
Speaker A:Unfortunately, there is no pill.
Speaker A:But what you have got is you have got exercise.
Speaker A:I know you've heard it before, I know you've heard about how beneficial doing exercise is, but you may not have heard it in quite the way that I'm going to put it across to you today.
Speaker A:The World Health Organization says that exercise is any deliberate activity that you undertake to improve your health and well being, which can be playing a sport, it can be walking, there's a whole host of activities that that can cover.
Speaker A:Now they also recommend that you should do 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, 75 minutes of vigorous exercise a week, which is like running, that sort of thing, and in addition to that doing two strength stroke resistance sessions a week, which is basically weightlifting, that sort of thing.
Speaker A:Now one of the biggest reasons I get from people for why they don't exercise is because they have no time.
Speaker A:And to be fair, if you've got to do minimum of 30, 30 minutes, five times a week, plus two resistance training sessions, I kind of get it.
Speaker A:I think that the World Health Organization is missing a trick.
Speaker A:But also one of the issues is that the fitness industry doesn't help itself because the fitness industry promotes itself based on the Love island six pack, buns of steel, bulging biceps, all of Those things that 99% of the population don't really care about.
Speaker A:When you've got a fitness industry that promotes that image of, of exercise, and when you've got the World Health Organization asking you to spend a significant amount of your time doing exercise, it's no wonder that a lot of people, particularly in this day and age, we're stressed, the world is switched on 24, seven, we never have time to think for ourselves.
Speaker A:Never mind actually fit in, you know, half an hour's exercise, five times a week, plus resistance and all those other things.
Speaker A:So I think that they're looking at it in the wrong way.
Speaker A:I think that my, my approach is that movement is medicine.
Speaker A:Now, as an osteopath and as somebody who likes exercise prescription, I will, 99 times out of 100, I will give people exercises to do.
Speaker A:And I do that because they're only here to see me once a week, maybe depending on in the early days, maybe once a week, and after that it may be once a month.
Speaker A:Now, with that sort of time frame, I can do what I can do within that session, but I can't treat them outside of that session.
Speaker A:So what I do is I give them exercises that will benefit whatever problem they've got.
Speaker A:But what I also do is realize that people do not have the time.
Speaker A:And if I make it too difficult for them to do the exercises, they won't do them.
Speaker A:When I give exercises out, I make sure that they are doable.
Speaker A:We go through them.
Speaker A:So I make sure that people understand what they're doing, and I make sure that I understand the benefits of what they're doing as well, why they're doing it.
Speaker A:And, and typically they might need to spend 5, 10, maybe 15 minutes a day most days doing those exercises.
Speaker A:And as things improve, they can cut back on those exercises because movement is medicine, as I always say, and the movement benefits the problems that they have.
Speaker A:So if you're reluctant to exercise because of the amount of time it takes to spend doing it, think of it the other way.
Speaker A:Movement is medicine.
Speaker A:The more you move, they'll actually have to come and see somebody like myself, unless I have to go and see egp, because there are all those benefits.
Speaker A:And start off small.
Speaker A:That's the first thing.
Speaker A:Start off small.
Speaker A:So if you can only allocate five minutes a day, then five minutes a day is a start.
Speaker A:It's five minutes more than you were doing before.
Speaker A:The other thing to do is to tag whatever it is you're doing in the line of exercise along with something else that you do.
Speaker A:So if you get up in the morning, have a shower, have a cup of coffee, then maybe while the coffee is brewing, maybe just before you get in the shower, get up five minutes early and do a few really simple exercises, whether it's press ups, whether it's squats, whatever you can do that have actually helped to increase your heart rate a little bit, get you, get you moving a little bit more than you otherwise would start off, keep it really simple, tag it onto another habit so it then becomes part of that routine, whatever that routine is, and build from there.
Speaker A:I used to run exercise class for older adults.
Speaker A:The oldest person in the class was 99 and she was one of the most active people in the class.
Speaker A:And there was a whole range of abilities and people with various issues.
Speaker A:As we get older, sometimes those develop.
Speaker A:So I'm not one of those people that says you have no excuses, you must exercise.
Speaker A:I will say if you exercise, you're going to have less reason to come and see me.
Speaker A:You are going to feel better, you are going to sleep better, you are going to feel healthier.
Speaker A:All we've got to do is to find something that you enjoy doing.
Speaker A:Oh yeah, that's the other thing.
Speaker A:Don't run because somebody told you to run.
Speaker A:Don't play football because somebody told you to find activities that you actually enjoy because that's what makes all the difference.
Speaker A:If it's just a grind again, you probably won't do it.
Speaker A:So in summary, exercise is a good thing, but you don't have to do 150 minutes of it or 75 minutes of vigorous stuff to get the benefits.
Speaker A:You can just do.
Speaker A:You start with five minutes a day, build on that and build yourself a routine.
Speaker A:Just find something that you enjoy doing.
Speaker A:The more you enjoy it, the more you will do it.
Speaker A:So yeah, that's it really.
Speaker A:If you don't know what activity to do, I'll put a link in the show notes to a little quiz that asks you a few questions and then it makes some suggestions about some activities, sproke sports that you might enjoy.
Speaker A:So that's a good place to start.
Speaker A:If you get really stuck, drop me a message in the comments and I will send you some basic exercises, really simple things to do that will really help to make you move better and feel better.
Speaker A:So that's it for now.
Speaker A:I will see you at the next one.
Speaker A:If you think there's anybody that out there that may benefit from my little message on exercise, please ping them, podcast or send them the link or just download it, send it to them any way you can share it.
Speaker A:All good.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening and I'll see you next one.