The body is always seeking equilibrium. It’s always longing for the perfect balance.
Our lives these days are so fast and so chaotic, that the last thing our bodies need when it comes to exercise is loads of the hard and fast stuff – we go hard and fast all day everyday with everything else! Too much hard and fast, no matter what area of life we are talking about, will end with us experiencing fatigue and burnout. We just can’t continue with hard and fast without repercussions on our health and wellbeing.
In an ideal exercise world, there are three types of exercise that, to me, create a perfect and well-rounded exercise regime. These are resistance/strength training, cardiovascular/HIIT training, and mind-body exercise.
Resistance training (also called strength and weight training) is the kind of exercise that loads and strengthens the muscle. We can undertake strength training by using machines at a gym, free weights, lifting objects found around the home or farm (i.e. paint pales, old tyres, milk bottles, ), or simply by using our own bodyweight in various primal movement patterns. There are an abundance of benefits associated with strength training. These include: heightened calorie and fat burning, stronger muscles and bones, reduced risk of lifestyle-type diseases, improved balance and agility, improved posture, reduces blood pressure, reduced risk of injury, lowers stress levels, improves cardiovascular health, and releases awesome endorphins – why WOULDN’T you do it??
Resistance training I position in the ‘hard and fast’ category – because we need to be mentally strong whilst we do it, and it requires a great amount of focus and exertion. Ideally, we should be including this form of training into our exercise regime 2-3 times per week (to reap the best benefits).
Cardiovascular training is the ‘huff and puff’ part of your exercise week. Cardiovascular training is awesome for improving the health and efficiency of the heart and lungs. I, personally, also LOVE the endorphin flow from a hard cardio session. Cardiovascular exercise comes in many forms – walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, boxing, dance classes, spin classes, High Intensity Interval Training – just as a few examples. All types of cardiovascular exercise have slightly different intensity levels, and you can pick and choose them according your own individual fitness level and experience. You should be incorporating this into your exercise regime 1-2 times per week.
Like resistance training, I also position cardiovascular training in the ‘hard and fast’ category – with one exception, walking. If you’re heading out for a leisurely walk, with no distractions, and have no great ambitions to conquer Everest whilst out walking, only then would I position walking in the mind-body exercise category. This is because a leisurely walk, amongst nature, and in the natural sunshine, can be extremely medicinal – your thoughts get a chance to be considered and cleared without the flappable usual chaos of work or home life. Walking, indeed, can be calming, and a wonderful re-energiser if you simply head out to enjoy it.
So, what else do I mean when I talk about the mind-body category of exercise? The aim of Mind-body exercise is to soothe and calm the mind, and to achieve whole-body rejuvenation. By embarking on mind-body exercise you will reduce your stress levels, improve the quality of your breathing, and you will release and re-lengthen the body’s musculature. Did you know that the quality and effectiveness of our breathing in modern times is so poor that there are now health professions which look at, modify, and remedy disordered breathing patterns in their steady stream of patients. Most people aren’t even aware that their breathing is of poor quality. When we don’t breathe properly we restrict and inhibit multiple bodily functions, many of which are essential to our health and immunity!
Mind-body exercise types are meditation, yoga, pilates, breathing exercises, qiqong, tai chi and, as I referred to before, leisurely walks.
It pays dividends to your health to keep connected with your body and what it needs in any particular day or week. It’s also a great way to ‘let go’ and unwind after a crazy and stressful day, and mind-body exercise can be particularly helpful before bed for this very reason. Plus, in our fast paced world, we NEED to do some slow stuff every now and then.
Have a think about the types of training YOU do, and whether you are able to incorporate other fitness themes into your week – so that you’re targeting your body as a whole. It’s happiest that way. Happy mind, happy body; AND happy body; happy mind.
