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What are you training for?

In my experience the most common responses to this question are often ‘to lose weight’, ‘to gain muscle mass’, ‘to improve my race time’, ‘to look better in a bathing suit’, etc. There is nothing wrong with these goals and sometimes they serve as a powerful intrinsic motivator to remain consistent with your exercise regime. They shouldn’t however, be our sole indicator for success or motivation to continue training. One of the most impactful responses that I’ve heard to this question came from the following article: “Train for life: exercise is medicine”

Train for life!

“We need a way to tackle the issue that exercise is primarily for external aesthetic outcomes in the eyes of the public. The message needs to be spread that even if people do not reach their original exercise goals, they shouldn’t give up on exercise. They need to train forlife.”

Exercise is medicine, preventative medicine. Something, I believe, needs much more attention from our health authorities. It is time for us, the public, to make the choice to be pro-active in our health and wellness with a sustainable solution.

“To reap exercise’s benefits you do not need to be a professional athlete or train for a specific event.”

“Exercise and physical activity is known to reduce all-cause mortality risk (Paffenbarger et al., 1986; Nocon et al., 2008) in a dose response fashion (Lee & Skerret, 2001; Byberg et al., 2009). Train with a bit more vigorously and with a bit more effort and the benefits to longevity become even greater (Lee et al., 2003; Wisloff et al., 2006; Laukkanen et al., 2010).”

The ‘dose-response’ approach they refer to is something we have advocated for years. A short, intense workout done a couple of times per week to allow for sufficient recovery is the easiest way to reap the benefits and remain consistent with an exercise regime.

Thanks for reading!

Matt

#ahealthiernovascotia