When you want to exercise for your well-being but find it boring or overwhelming, it’s stressful. When you know how to find your sweet spot of what is doable and important now you take the stress out of trying to be motivated to exercise.
When we try to simplify exercise to just 'moving more' or 'getting steps', it loses its power. You miss out on the specific mobility, strength and stamina your body needs to feel and function your best now, and age well and strong.
But adding those elements in can make it overwhelming. How do you exercise for mobility, strength, and stamina? What are the best exercises? Which ones should you avoid? Who can you trust to get the right information for you?
The answers to those questions start with being able to listen to your own body and know your Core Why for exercising. This keeps exercising doable but still important enough to stay motivated to make time for it.
That means the first person to ask is yourself! Then take advice from a clinical exercise physiologist and movement scientist 🙋🏻♀️ to know you are moving the way your body is designed rather than based on what is marketable (ie: "exercises to tone your arms 🙄)
Why exercise is boring and not motivating and how to fix it
Exercise is boring when it's a 'should', a task you have to just do so you can move on with your day. Exercise becomes a task when we:
focus on step goals and calorie-burning rather than moving well to have more energy, be calmer
do it for the future benefits rather than the present benefits
rely on external motivators like an exericse partner, activity monitor, or gym membership guilt to be accountable to rather than being accountable to yourself, listening to your body and meeting yourself where you are now to feel and function better now
Exercise becomes overwhelming when we:
use fear of illness, aging, or injury as a motivator rather than using how you want to feel and function better now and in the future
set goals that lack meaning like 10,000 steps a day or 150 minutes a week rather than moving for the mobility, strength, and stamina we want to do the things that bring more ease and joy to life.
Make an exericse about undoing the food you eat and getting to a goal weight rather than because it will make you healthier because you feel and function better at your current weight.
The fix for these motivation drains is found in the integration of motivation science, movement science and 'you science' or mindfulness
3 steps that take the stress out of exercise motivation with The Be Well Now Method™
By using the Be Well Now Method™ you use the Principles of Exercising Well to find the sweet spot of simplicity between doablity and importance and unleash your motivation superpower of exercising for well-being.
1️⃣ Be: Meet yourself where you are now with mindfulness and self-compassion. This allows you to get out of the 'shoulds' and instead be guided by the most up-to-date and accurate information about how exericse can help you feel and function better now
2️⃣ Well: Connect what you are doing with your Core Why - clarifying your intrinsic motivation, what you value most in life, and the reasons you want to feel and function your best now and in the future
3️⃣ Now: Move Well with a balance of mobility, strength, and stamina following the principles of exercise science and movement science so you can find the level that leaves your body saying "thank you" because it lowers or eliminates pain and raises energy now.
This is how to make exercise simple without losing effectiveness
This is how we redefine exercise as whole-person self-care for all. Unleash your exericse motivation with this superpower of simplicity by finding the balance between what is doable for you now, and important to you now. Bottom line:
Trust your body
Trust your Core Why
Trust a blend of whole-person sciences
and enjoy exercising to Be Well Now