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Why not Work Out?

Let's discuss the ins and outs of working in and working out.

Are you currently doing what's right for you? Is pounding the pavement what you need to be doing on a daily or weekly basis? Is jumping straight into exercise going to help you achieve your goals or is it going to hinder your progress?

If you listen to some of the gurus of the fitness industry you will find that they are not necessarily encouraging everyone to go out and do as much movement as they can to try and make themselves healthy. I know this is what we get exposed to in all the reality shows that we see on television and we see people get some pretty astounding results but are they improving their overall health or are they just improving what the scales say?

Through my own experience I know what it's like to live an unhealthy lifestyle, drink your life away and watch your pay check go down the toilet of the local bar or pub. It was great fun but I know my health suffered, I am now a Personal Trainer and I live a much different life. By no means am I a robot whose body is a temple and I don't do anything “bad” but I am more aware of what it means to be healthy and live a balanced life. The interesting thing is that I don't follow the government guidelines of a certain amount of structured exercise every day and lift weight 3 times a week or whatever it is (I'm not even sure exactly what it is that they recommend). This is because through some of the training that I have done since becoming a Personal Trainer and also through many of the books that I have read since my life changed direction dramatically I have learnt that it is not always the best approach to simply work out all the time.

Those of us who do work out on a regular basis all know that working out is about making yourself feel like you have expended energy and you feel more tired at the end of a work out than at the beginning. In essence what you are doing is putting your body under stress so that it expends energy and will hopefully adapt and improve. On the flip side of that is working in, this process is about energizing the body and making you feel like you have more energy at the end of the process than you did at the beginning. In some cases this doesn't involve any exercise but in a lot of cases it does. Tai Chi, Qigong and properly practiced Yoga are all forms of exercise that are designed for you to work in. In short any exercise done in the right frame of mind, accompanied by relaxed deep breathing and performing at below 60% of your maximum potential is working in exercise.

So which is more important, working out or working in? In this day and age when our lives are getting more and more stressful and we are living in a more and more toxic environment it is my belief that it is more important for people to work in than work out.

Many people that I have come across have told me that the reason why I exercise is because “It is relaxing to me” and “It is the only time I get to myself”. I'm not going to argue with these people because it may very well feel relaxing at the time and also might be the only time that they can justify to themselves to take some time of their own. My big encouragement would be to try a work in session and see how you feel post session compared to post work out session. I will put money on the fact that any participant will feel more relaxed after a work in session than they will after a work out session. You are also taking time to yourself and you are still exercising so you can still justify taking the time out.

The simple fact is that when you work out you are putting your body under stress and your body has the same physiological reaction to stress no matter what type of stress it is, Emotional, Physical or Nutritional. So the fact that a work out can feel like it is relieving stress is probably because it gives us a small opportunity to forget our other stressors and change our focus. On a physiological level the other stressors are still there they are just no longer at the forefront of our mind.

I find it interesting that we are only now discovering these things as a culture when eastern culture has been living by these sorts of philosophies for generations. Even more astounding is the fact that ancient Greek Philosopher Hippocrates popularized a theory about the human body that our body knows what it needs and that one of the things it needs is Quiet or Relaxed time. Somewhere in the last two thousand odd years that theory has been swept under the carpet and ignored. For more information on Hippocrates work please refer to a book called The Last Four Doctors You Will Ever Need by Paul Chek.

Some of you are probably thinking that I am trying to tell you not to work out, that is not what I am saying at all. I am simply saying that before you undertake to start doing some exercise ensure that you are not in an over stressed state already because you can get better results sometimes by slowing down. Here is a testimonial that I received from one of my clients:

“I started working with Luke 6 weeks prior to Christmas 2008. I wanted to lose 5kg before Christmas. Being a former athlete and still very active, I couldn't understand why I was putting on weight when I was training consistently and eating a reasonably well balanced diet. Perhaps I just wasn't working hard enough? I expected Luke to flog me for 6 weeks and even challenged him to see how hard he could work me - boy was I wrong! Luke actually slowed me down, focusing on my breathing, posture and functional movement patterns. I easily lost the weight and now feel stronger and healthier than I have for a long time. I was so impressed with Luke's approach and my results that I signed on for another 6 weeks with the goal of further improvements in my posture. After 12 weeks, I have maintained my weight loss and improved my posture and functional movement to such an extent that I am considering returning to the track to run again.”

In conclusion my recommendation is not to simply look at what you are doing and try and do more to achieve your goals. What I recommend you do is look at what is happening in your life and work on removing some of the stress before you add more stress to a possibly already overstressed system.

Wishing you all health and happiness.