The Evolution of Exercise
Exercise culture over the years has changed dramatically from an anthropological standpoint. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors got their exercise via survival chores. There was a certain inherent inconvenience that existed. They had to travel long distances for food and water and built everything from scratch, but they also had built-in exercise. Gyms and trainers did not exist.
With evolution, there are always trade-offs. While we may not be in a perpetual state of fear of being lion lunch anymore, we also lost out on some built-in exercise of having to forage, hunt and build on a daily basis. That has meant that we as a species have had to adapt our exercise regimens to our current levels of convenience and technological advancements. Those of us who live in developed countries no longer need to walk for miles to seek basic survival necessities, therefore we have had to introduce other ways of meeting our basic exercise requirements. On one hand, we reap the benefits of being able to order takeout directly to our doorstep and work with a movement coach online. On the other hand, we must now intentionally schedule in our exercise time since it’s not a prerequisite for getting food or water.
Luckily, humans are extremely adaptable. We know that keeping our bodies and minds strong can help extend our quality of life well into our later years, thus we have redesigned our communities and cities to help meet those needs. We are greatly impacted by the infrastructure and environmental design of our communities for better or worse. Gyms are one example of a human adaptation that offer a place for people to exercise and be social. But not all people are gym frequenters and that’s A-ok. We didn’t necessarily evolve to go to gyms.
With the evolution of social media, YouTube and other online video sharing platforms, access to information is easy and endless. While it’s brought us closer as a global community in many ways, it has also heightened confusion on many topics, including how we think we should be exercising. There is so much information to be consumed and it can be overwhelming to sift through the noise, think critically about what we’re consuming and distill the important ideas. And, like anything, the ideas that we nurture, become our reality.
Fortunately, we as movement coaches, happen to think about all things exercise on a daily, if not hourly basis and have compiled some ideas below for exercising for longevity in the 21st century that we thought would be helpful:
1. If you’re not a gym person, don’t worry about it! There are plenty of ways to meet your exercise needs outside of the box. The key is finding something you enjoy doing and makes you feel good. Spending some time getting to know yourself and what YOU need to feel your best is very valuable. And if you need some guidance or direction, seek help. We want to see you thrive!
2. Manage expectations through life’s innumerable beautiful events (planned and unforeseen). Embrace and lean into the times of transition or increased responsibility (ie. moving, child-rearing, studying, building and fostering meaningful relationships, building businesses, injuries, traveling, to name a few) and do what we humans do best - Adapt! And please be kind to yourself in the process. If you’ve been used to training intensely 5 times a week during your varsity athletic career, understand that may change in the future. And not only is it ok to change your protocol to compliment your current life stage as a new parent let’s say, you should change it because your needs are likely quite different.
3. Consume media with an open mind but also a critical one. It’s important to question things and where information is coming from. This is how we learn and grow. We often see the fitness culture as intense, pain-inducing or overly exhausting. Exercising consistently for longevity does not mean it has to be painful, nor does it mean you necessarily need to break a sweat, be terribly sore the next day, or do hundreds of reps. We’d like to change the narrative of what constitutes a “good workout”. Some characteristics of effective and sustainable exercise are:
you enjoy what you are doing (to be noted: you may not inherently enjoy doing push ups or squats, but if the overall experience you have while performing these exercises is positive, then that will keep you coming back time and time again. Steady, healthy progress is addictive and it’s important to give yourself an opportunity to feel that)*
you finish with plenty of energy to do other things
you’re able to exercise again tomorrow if you wanted to
you experience a level of mental and physical challenge that is suitable for your current capacity
4. For a well-rounded approach to exercise, aim to incorporate some exercises that challenge your strength, some exercises that challenge your heart rate and some exercises that challenge your ability to move in a variety of positions. Practicing these things as regularly as you can will have long-lasting benefits, and you’ll be able to navigate life’s events knowing you have a solid foundation that you can always rely on to keep you going allllll the way into your 80s, 90s, 100 & beyond!
5. Perhaps a little inconvenience now and again isn’t such a bad thing! Having to go out of our way sometimes can serve us in our pursuits for incorporating exercise into our lives.
*another blogpost to further unpack this topic will follow at a later date