I was at a Sports Nutrition conference earlier this month taking in the wisdom of Nancy Clark, the most well-known of Sports-Nutritionists (pictured here). She said, “I keep food and exercise separate: the E of exercise is for ‘enjoyment’.” I’ve been pondering that since. With all the activity trackers out there (think fitbit), so many are calculating life away one calorie at a time. They certainly have their benefits, but there is so much more to movement.
For people like Nancy and myself, who have made our careers of all things exercise and nutrition, you might think, “well of course YOU enjoy exercise…”
I realize that not everyone loves to exercise, but everyone sure does love its benefits. Even at a busy time such as this week before Christmas, when most gyms don’t even have 63 people within their 4 walls, I got 63 responses on my Facebook page to fill-in-the-blank:
“The ‘E’ in exercise is for:_________.” Here are some of my favorites that were shared.
Energy
Every-day
Extra-good sleep
Essential
Endorphin-releasing!
Equalizer (no matter your fitness level, exercise works you!)
Encouragement
Effort
Enjoyment
Effective
Every-workout counts (a short workout is better than no workout at all)
Experience (think snow-skiing, hiking, sports)
Excess-fat-tissue-reducing
Exertion
Enthusiasm
Essential to my sanity
Entertainment
Execution of stress
Exciting
Exactly what I need
Endurance
Empowering
Efficiency
Exuberance
Extraordinary
Excellent
Euphoric
Everyone
And yes, at times it can be:
Excruciating
“Ewww! (Sweaty)!”
Even-if-you-don’t-want-to
Exhausting…later (But who doesn’t love falling asleep solid – right when your head hits the pillow?)
I was thrilled that most all the “E” words shared were positive! But truth be told, just the word “exercise” has many minds flooding with another “E” word…excuses!
If you have some good excuses as to why you don’t wanna exercise, well then you’re pretty normal after all. And hey, I’ll even be so kind as to share some more excuses with you:
Exercise is a good excuse…
Excuse to get a new pair of shoes (they wear out with all that exercise, you know?)
Excuse for tackling and rough-housing
Excuse for getting a massage
Excuse for some much needed “me-time”
Excuse to download good music
Excuse to soak up the sun/the great outdoors
Excuse to take an extra long, hot bath
Excuse not to answer your phone/texts for a whole hour (“Sorry – I was in Zumba class!”)
Excuse to run into the nearest sporting goods store
Excuse to utilize the childcare in the gym while you stand at the water fountain and chit-chat for 15 minutes
And my favorite…an excuse for time with friends/loved ones. (I make it weekly priority to go for a run with someone special to me and have for over 10 years!)
Speaking of someone special….today, our youngest child of 3 – Elita – turns 7 (sniff). To celebrate while her cousins were in town this week, she chose a “dance party/KidzBop theme”…A reminder that exercise is all those things we shared, PLUS an Entertaining part any good festivity!
Cheers to making movement part of your good times over the Christmas holidays! E for enjoy!
