The Case for exercise

There are no rules or regulations for what exercise should look like.

I recently met with a client, a wonderful person, who was struggling in life. They were dealing with physical pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, and just wanted to feel normal again.

We go on to the dreaded topic of exercise, and the client happily disclosed they hate exercise. Even the word makes them uncomfortable and the idea of it makes them feel overwhelmed. They understood the implications of not exercising. They understood that exercise was important in general health. But they still hated it. Over a few weeks we talked about this briefly every session. And it turned out this person's feelings came back from being a child and being forced to participate in mandatory physical education at school and not being very good at it.

During our conversation I asked the client, what are you good at?

They replied, "I'm really good at art and I am especially good at helping others."

I said, what things do you enjoy? They replied," I enjoy being around people. I like art. I like being outdoors."

So through further discussion, I did discover this client did move their body on a regular basis. The client walked, but was struggling with longer distances, longer hikes up hills and down hills, any uneven ground.

So I opened the door to the idea of movement, rather than exercise. Movement to maybe improve their ability to participate in the longer hikes that their partner and friends wanted to take them on. After five or six sessions, this person was doing what I would call exercise three times a week, and a strengthening program.

All we had to do was find the activities that were important. The THING that would make the difference.

So when it comes to thinking about exercise and what's important, we do know that 150 minutes a week is recommended. Two to three strengthening sessions a week is also recommended.

And since here are no rules or regulations for what exercise should look like, I say to you, find some activities you enjoy. Add some resistance, hang out with some friends, and you will probably find you actually start to enjoy exercise.

NIcola Robertson

Registered Physiotherapist