January 1st 2014 marked seven full years of exercising at least 30 minutes per day for me–that’s only 2,555 days if you are counting.
My quest to return to a more active lifestyle was a necessity after entering corporate wellness full time in 2005. By late 2006, I was really suffering from long days and a massive workload to the point where I was only exercising 3-4 days per week. For a person like me, I was becoming more of the problem than the solution as 3-4 days per week of exercise is not acceptable personally for my own body.
This was the start of The Lean Berets 30X30 NO EXCUSES Challenge–and the start of me saving my own life. I don’t get much time to myself. My daily 30 minutes is all I can carve out of my busy schedule at times. It’s usually not fancy or hard, but it’s a “daily dose” of exercise Rx even if only walking or doing very restorative and gentle joint mobility or inversion therapy, etc.
There are all kinds of fitness experts telling you what to do and how to do it. I keep it simple. I move daily with an emphasis on not just moving more–but moving well. I seek to improve my movement skills as I am able. I’m successful at moving every single day for at least 30 minutes; most people are not…maybe there is something of value?
I never got a prize for exercising 2,555 days. My reward was survival and maintaining a decent level of basic fitness and body composition. No one needs to check up on my daily exercise routine or monitor me. Behavioral Psychology Tip: The deeper “intrinsic” rewards are far more powerful than superficial extrinsic rewards. When people turn onto health, THEY GET IT internally and at deeper behavioral and spiritual levels. When others burn out or run out of prizes, I’ll still be exercising 30 minutes or more per day…until I die as far as I am concerned. Sure, some extrinsic rewards can be good to kickstart some people “temporarily,” but deeper wellness, like most things in life of true importance, cannot be assigned a dollar amount or trivialized into a monetary prize. Ask a real black belt if they need a reward to train in their discipline?
Before you think this is impressive, think again. Jack LaLanne exercised 50 years straight without missing a single day, so in 43 more years…I might be impressive. For now, it’s just what I do and what many people should consider if sit most of the day when they are not exercising. Our bodies were not meant to sit all day at a machine–they were meant to BE the machine. The sooner we all realize that modern technology lifestyles are harmful to our bodies from lack of movement and poor posture, the sooner we can get out of our own way and start moving more, and with correct methods–hopefully even move better.
30 minutes per day. 2,555+ days and counting…
