The Merits of Movement

Forgive me before I start teaching you how to suck eggs. I’ve had a few realisations over the last few days I thought I’d share with you.

Maybe I’m in the minority when I say I can’t function efficiently during the day unless I move my body first thing in the morning, even more so if I’ve had a few sociable drinks the night before – which I’ve really tried to reign in recently. It makes total sense though when you realise that happens in our bodies when we work all of our muscles, organs, breathe deeply and get our heart rate up.

I work out every weekday morning before I start my day. If I don’t, I’m mentally and physically sluggish. Conversely when I work out, I’m fully energised both physically and mentally, and i’ll be energised all day long. I won’t go into a food coma after lunch. (That’s also got a lot to do with consuming very few high GI carbs at lunch – if any.)

Back to my point. My morning ritual involves any of the following, some of which are gym glasses: yoga, Surfset, XY training, circuit training, weight lifting, jog or 8 x HIIT running sprints. Surfset is an interesting one – a combination of high intensity training on a wobbly surfboard supported by 3 balls and resistance bands, 4 sets of 20 seconds each with 10 second rest in between each one and a break between each set.  It’s a form of Tobata and lasts for 40 minutes. XT training comprises 40 seconds of high intensity on a yoga matt, followed by 20 seconds of yoga. 4 sets, lasting 40 minutes.

Each of these workouts use every muscle in your body. When I first took up yoga, earlier last year, I couldn’t believe what I had missed for all of my life. You actually notice how little you use every muscle unless you do yoga. A general rule of the universe is that whatever doesn’t grow, weakens – and that goes for all of our organs and musculoskeletal system too (muscles, bones, ligaments, joints). Working out increases testosterone immediately. After every work out I do, I feel amazing, I experience the energy rush, all the right chemicals flowing around my brain and body. It got me thinking about how so few people experience this natural high and sustained energy. The only ones who do, are those who move and work their bodies regularly. And the ones who don’t, literally (used in its actual – literal – sense) do not know what they’re missing, until they start doing it!

It made me reflect on a documentary I watched the other night called Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead 2. They made a sequel to the first as the first was such a success. Watch it if you haven’t already – it’s brilliant. A guy in his mid-forties, very over weight, was able to reverse all of his illnesses including obesity, high blood pressure, inflammation, an auto-immune disease (chronic hives) and type 2 diabetes by going on a juice cleanse for 60 days – involving mainly vegetable juices and some fruit juices. He was on 8 drugs and came off every single one of them and he balanced all of his hormones. We can get all of our micronutrients from plant-based foods. I won’t go into this as that’ll be for another day. Just know this, the Standard American Diet has most people stuffing their faces, yet depriving themselves of key micronutrients, and most people will end up ill. Sad, but true.

Something that was said during this documentary was that most people (case studies on the juice cleanse) had no idea, how little energy they used to have, until they experienced having it. The vegetable juices fuelled their bodies and cells and they removed all the toxins that were causing harm leaving them feeling energised.

Once you get into a habit of working out, working all of your muscles, your organs, and consuming tons of micronutrients, you can become a new person and get your mojo back! If you’re not already moving, start…

Check out the Trailer for Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead…