By Coach Marci Braithwaite*

This is Marci’s second contribution to the Foultips.run blog. She wrote “The Journey of the Fat Runner” back on March 30th, which is by far, the most read post in the history of this blog.

\”It\’s not a workout if it\’s not at least 3 miles.\”

\”I have to hit the gym for an hour, at least.\”

\”I run every single day.\”

\”If I don\’t work out for 30 minutes, it doesn\’t count.\”

I\’m guilty of thinking and doing all these things in the past. How about you?

10,000 steps a day is an arbitrary number set by a marketing ocmpany (Photo: Blue Bird, Pexels.com)

Did you know that 10,000 steps is an arbitrary number picked by a marketing company, not by science? 4,500 steps per day is the number found to make a difference in overall health, and the benefit doesn\’t increase much, the higher your step count.

American lives are busy. Our culture doesn\’t value rest, so we are constantly driven to be productive. We keep our kids in every activity imaginable, we work full time, we are expected to have clean houses and manicured yards, cook \”healthy\” meals, and, oh! don\’t forget self-care! Not to mention, our bodies are held to a physical ideal that most people will never match, no matter how much time we spend in a gym. But we must look like we\’re trying, so we add in working out regularly to the list of other productive things we must do each day.

No wonder we\’re all exhausted.

As a running coach, there are two questions I get more than any others. One is, \”How do I get rid of shin splints?\” (not covered in this post). The other is, \”How do I stay motivated?\”

And it\’s no wonder that people feel the need to ask that question, because our lives are so full and so busy that fitting one more hour-long workout into our days can sometimes seem like a herculean task. We forget all the other things we\’ve been motivated to do all day and feel worthless and exhausted at the end of the day because that workout just didn\’t fit into all of it.

Have you ever considered doing… less?

Fitness isn\’t a look, it\’s a lifestyle. It\’s movement, which our bodies are designed to do naturally. And if you\’re one of those people who never has a problem with motivation and gets to the gym or hits the road every day, like clockwork, and never feels a lag in your desire to do so, great! But I\’d be willing to bet that something else in that list of societal expectations will suffer sooner or later. Because our bodies need rest, and our societal expectations are waaay too high.

There are a few things I would suggest to help change that.

If you find yourself constantly saying: \”The workout doesn\’t count if it isn\’t ___.” But then you also find yourself skipping workouts because you can\’t fit another ___ timeslot into your day, you might consider changing your outlook on fitness. Our bodies are designed to move, but that movement doesn\’t have to be in prescribed timeslots or for continuous periods. Fitness should be a lifestyle, which means movement every day WITHIN our days, as a part of our days, naturally.

You can always fit in movement into your office hours if you plan it properly (Photo: Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels.com)

Small bites work. Doing a mobility exercise for two minutes after sitting at your desk for an hour has measurable benefits. Keep a list of easy exercises beside your computer and take 2-5 minute breaks throughout your workday, and you\’ll have completed a 30 minute workout by the time you go home. You will feel better in your mind and body, plus you\’ll have freed up a 30-minute period to cuddle and read a story with your kiddo.

Other things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or parking further back in the lot help, as well. Setting a reminder on your phone or watch is helpful. Taking a walk or run on your lunchbreak can be beneficial, but please, don\’t skip the meal if your body is hungry (looking into intuitive eating would be a good thing, too).

All these things help to take motivation out of the equation, because the movement becomes a habit, not a requirement. Even running can be done like this (unless you\’re training for longer distances, then please follow your coach\’s plan). A 5-minute run is better than no run. And you may find that you feel just as good after a quick loop around the block in the middle of the day as you would after an hour-long run after a busy day.

What I\’m saying is, be gentle with yourself. Take small bites. Of life, of fitness, of society\’s expectations. Start small. You may find that it leads to larger things, but if it doesn\’t, that\’s perfectly okay, too. We all have our responsibilities – do what you can to fit fitness into your life in a comfortable way. It should never hurt, and you should always feel good about it at the end of the day.

*Maci is a RRCA Certified running coach, who runs “The Fat Athlete” website. If you want more information on her groups, you can request it by emailing coach.thefatathlete@gmail.com; or you can follow her in Instagram @The­_Fat_Athlete.