How to Incorporate and Sustain Exercise for Longterm Health
Time to get off the rollercoaster!
Short term goals are great because they keep us focused on what is attainable in the next 1-3 months, heck even the next 4 years if you’re making a run for the Olympics, but if we’re playing the long game of life and we want to stay healthy, strong and able for the rest of our days then we should approach our exercise in a way that is sustainable. You’ve heard it before, consistency is the key. Not intensity, not frequency, it’s consistency that is not only the way to ensure longterm progress, but is ultimately the most sustainable.
How consistent should we be? That depends person to person but according to the Government of Canada Guidelines for Physical Activity (ages 18-64), we should be active at least 2.5 hours per week to achieve health benefits; we should focus on moderate to vigorous aerobic activity each week broken into sessions 10 minutes or more; add activities that target your muscles and bones at least 2 days per week.
Here are our recommendations for how to keep exercising for your whole life:
1. Find something you enjoy doing, but remain open and flexible and have a plan B.
Playing volleyball is my #1 joy in terms of exercise. But there have been a few times in my life where I could not play. I injured my knee putting me out for 3/4 of a year. I moved cities and now live in the country where I’m not able to play as often as I would like. I also recognize the demand it places on my joints and so I have to think of future me, and know that I’ll play as long as I am able, but I will likely get to 80 years old and not be jumping like I can now.
So I have a plan B. I love the feeling of strength training. Lifting weights or my own body in different ways makes me feel strong, confident and energized. It keeps me coming back for more. I know this will be a staple in my life over the long term. Sure, there are weeks where I need an extended break or I just don’t feel inspired to workout, but over my lifetime, I know this style of training will bring me joy consistently.
Running on the other hand, for the sake of running, is something I practice occasionally to be able to have that as a skill and to keep my lung and heart capacity, but I would not say it’s something I consistently enjoy. I prefer to run as a component of playing sports. Plus, I’m a fair-weather runner at best. Living in a place with seasons means that running in the winter is out. So, this will not be a consistent staple for me 365 and I’m ok with that.
Some people enjoy yoga or martial arts as a staple practice. Others love to swim laps. It could be as simple as walking. Whatever it is, find out what brings you joy.
When things feel stagnant or you feel yourself getting complacent, try something new. Go to a yoga class, workout with a friend, take your exercise outside, join a sports team, hire a coach etc. Try to find a staple style of exercise that you really enjoy, something that you can rely on to keep you consistent in your movement practice.
It can definitely be helpful to dabble in other forms of exercise in case you get injured, or circumstances change such that you can no longer partake in the thing that brings you joy. Stay curious and flexible!
2. Avoid the too much too fast approach.
You may be familiar with the stages of behaviour change model. In brief, there are 5 stages:
Pre-contemplation (not acknowledging that a change needs to be made)
Contemplation (acknowledging a change needs to be made but not quite ready to act)
Preparation (getting ready to change)
Action (changing behaviour)
Maintenance (maintaining the behaviour change).
If you are in the Action stage, it can be easy to jump in with two feet and commit all-in to change. This is not a bad thing by any means, but occasionally people tend to do too much too soon. Whether that’s exercising too intensely right off the bat, or making drastic nutritional changes, or introducing too many changes at once.
A more gradual approach is necessary for long-lasting change. This can be mentally challenging as we live in a culture that promotes fast, quick and convenient. But by definition sustainable means that you are able to maintain something at a certain level or rate. If the level of exertion of your exercise program is too rigorous or if you are chasing a certain goal with a rate that is too fast for a given duration, then it won’t be sustainable longterm.
30-day challenge programs can act as a catalyst to start moving which is great, but they often fall into this category of unsustainable, so it would be wise to figure out what’s next instead of going hard for a month and then taking a month off.
We have to recognize that creating new habits takes time and is not necessarily easy nor linear. We may relapse into old habits. That’s ok. The important part is learning along the way and refining your processes to find out what works for you.
3. Be honest with yourself.
Knowing yourself is key. If you despise exercise, then you’ll likely need some greater form of accountability in order to incorporate it into your life without feeling like you are on a motivation rollercoaster. Human connection has been shown to have great power here. Committing to exercising with a friend or hiring a coach are helpful strategies if this is the type of person you are.
If self-motivation comes easy to you, and you have certain goals you want to achieve but you’re not entirely sure how to reach them, that’s where finding a system or plan to follow can be effective. Be sure to reassess your goals over time to maintain that motivation.
It’s important to be realistic with your commitments. Going from exercising once ever couple of weeks to saying you will commit to 3 days a week in the gym is a big jump. It’s definitely doable (I’ve seen it with a client first hand), but it depends on the accountability plan you’ve setup for yourself and whether you see yourself sticking to that. For some, the reason for making that jump will be enough to not only action it, but maintain it. For others, it is too lofty and would be better off making a more gradual increase in exercise frequency. The same can be said for intensity. Even for elite athletes, who have intense training regimens that are seasonal throughout their competitive years, sometimes, healthy habits become engrained for life whereas other times, they fall off completely after retirement and struggle with finding a good balance later on in life.
So, in order to be make exercise truly a part of your lifestyle forever:
find something you actually enjoy doing
be flexible in adjusting your training plan to different phases of your life
take a gradual approach to change
be real with yourself and what you’re willing to do
Reference: Physical Activity Guidelines from the Government of Canada