Gym rut got you down? Rethink your options!

Hate gyms? Rethink your exercise!  

Making adjustments to the way you think and eat will help you achieve a healthier lifestyle, and you don’t need to hit the gym five days a week! 

That’s right. I think it is fair to say that you should stop counting the minutes and hours of your workouts. The key point is that you should stay active, but incidental activity, e.g. hobbies like gardening, or recreational sports like tennis, hiking and even fishing, could involve the right amount of movement and “ stress reduction” to accomplish what 50 minutes of gym−time can offer.

Think about it, until modern times, the word exercise had a very different meaning—something on the order of practicing for “the real thing,” as in a fire drill. Once our “evolved” society created “free time” a commercial enterprise sprung up to solve the problem of what to do with it. Somewhere along the lines as we also became more sedentary as a result of the time saving technology that was invented, doctors came to understand that in the absence of regular activity people were less healthy. With that, an industry was born. Now there are doctors and fitness gurus who prescribe everything from calisthenics to kick boxing. And there are manufacturers lined up to sell us the equipment and the clothing. 

young asian woman enjoy the view at mountain peak

While classes can be fun and we love a nice new pair of yoga pants and pretty running shoes, it’s not always necessary! Just get outside and do something you enjoy. Wear whatever you like. If you do not feel free when you “exercise” then for sure it is not working so well anyway. It is time to go back to a more basic existence. This is something your grandmother figured out long ago.