WEBVTT - Exercise with a purpose 

0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.680
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:14.680
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:20.840
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to exercise with a purpose. Lots of

0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.720
<v Speaker 1>people want to exercise more in the new year, but

0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:27.639
<v Speaker 1>when exercise makes sense in your life, you'll be far

0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:32.280
<v Speaker 1>more likely to stick with it. Like many people, I've

0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:36.680
<v Speaker 1>laughed at the widely circulated photo of escalators leading into

0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:40.159
<v Speaker 1>a gym. Now, I know this is partly about accessibility,

0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.559
<v Speaker 1>which I am a really big fan of, but I

0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.920
<v Speaker 1>also imagine that there are people who take those escalators

0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.599
<v Speaker 1>just to log forty minutes on the stair climbing machines.

0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:53.720
<v Speaker 1>Exercise can seem so removed from normal life, and so

0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.640
<v Speaker 1>when we get busy, it's an easy thing to cut.

0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.320
<v Speaker 1>Contrast the us with our ancestors who didn't have the

0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.399
<v Speaker 1>option to cut exercise out of their lives. They had

0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:09.000
<v Speaker 1>to walk places and cut wood and plant crops and

0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:13.760
<v Speaker 1>ring clothes without the benefit of modern labor saving machinery.

0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.440
<v Speaker 1>People these days whose jobs involve physical labor likewise don't

0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.760
<v Speaker 1>need to make time to hit the gym to stay fit. Now,

0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:24.960
<v Speaker 1>most of us aren't going to turn our jobs into

0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:29.240
<v Speaker 1>the physical equivalent of being lumberjacks. But we might find

0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.640
<v Speaker 1>ways to exercise more purposefully and thus increase the chances

0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:37.120
<v Speaker 1>that we stick with it. Not because we have found

0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:43.080
<v Speaker 1>new fonts of willpower, but because it makes sense. For instance,

0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.759
<v Speaker 1>you know who walks briskly for thirty minutes each day,

0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:50.120
<v Speaker 1>People who live fifteen minutes from the station where they

0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:52.800
<v Speaker 1>get on the train to work. You leave the house

0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:56.000
<v Speaker 1>just a minute later than you planned, and suddenly you're hustling.

0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:59.480
<v Speaker 1>This is also why people with dogs walk more per

0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:03.080
<v Speaker 1>day than other people. The dog needs to be walked,

0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.720
<v Speaker 1>and so you do too. Now you may not want

0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:08.880
<v Speaker 1>to adopt a dog, and you may not have a

0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.440
<v Speaker 1>walk friendly commute, but you can still build in possibilities.

0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.720
<v Speaker 1>For instance, you might be able to literally run an

0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:21.200
<v Speaker 1>errand or at least walk an errand. For instance, if

0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.720
<v Speaker 1>I need a break and I need to mail a package,

0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.800
<v Speaker 1>I'll walk to the post office. I'll also walk to

0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:30.560
<v Speaker 1>return books to our local library. My husband and I

0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:32.919
<v Speaker 1>bought a new house in our neighborhood recently, and it's

0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.720
<v Speaker 1>being renovated, so we are not living there yet. I

0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:37.720
<v Speaker 1>will run the two miles there to check on the

0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.720
<v Speaker 1>property and then run two miles home. This feels a

0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.440
<v Speaker 1>lot more purposeful than just running four miles on the treadmill.

0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.400
<v Speaker 1>I'm not doing as much strength training as I'd like

0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:51.320
<v Speaker 1>to lately, but I decided to cut myself some slack

0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.120
<v Speaker 1>when I realized I'm doing a purposeful version of that

0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.360
<v Speaker 1>carrying around a twenty four pound toddler. If you have

0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:00.840
<v Speaker 1>young children, you might also figure you're out games you

0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:05.080
<v Speaker 1>can play that involve moving them and voila big biceps.

0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.240
<v Speaker 1>A lot of outdoor yard projects can be recast as

0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:16.120
<v Speaker 1>strength training. Gardening, shoveling, leaf breaking, stacking wood. Spending fifteen

0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.720
<v Speaker 1>minutes a day on those things can be a good

0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.280
<v Speaker 1>substitute for the gym workout and maybe even save you

0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.680
<v Speaker 1>some money if you otherwise would be outsourcing them. And

0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.320
<v Speaker 1>since they need to be done, they make more sense.

0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.560
<v Speaker 1>My family has been trying to do family walks on weekends,

0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.320
<v Speaker 1>especially as the kids sports have taken a pause due

0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:38.600
<v Speaker 1>to COVID concerns. But we've noticed that walking briskly around

0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.240
<v Speaker 1>a zoo is much the same as walking on a trail,

0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:45.080
<v Speaker 1>only the kids are less aware of the exercise because

0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:49.080
<v Speaker 1>they're seeing tigers in the process. Something to keep in

0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:53.640
<v Speaker 1>mind for family harmony. In any case, if you'd like

0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.760
<v Speaker 1>to exercise more in the new year, see if there

0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.160
<v Speaker 1>are places in your life where you might be able

0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:03.280
<v Speaker 1>to exercise with a purpose. Instead of driving to a

0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.920
<v Speaker 1>coffee shop, you find one closer to home where you

0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.000
<v Speaker 1>can walk or bike. Instead of running in a loop,

0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.120
<v Speaker 1>you run to a destination for something you need to do.

0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.720
<v Speaker 1>And if you have a situation where your life requires

0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.160
<v Speaker 1>extra exercise, well you might do all kinds of great

0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.200
<v Speaker 1>things without even trying. I once met a woman who

0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:25.920
<v Speaker 1>had started working with a new team at her very

0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:30.279
<v Speaker 1>large company. Suddenly, most of her meetings were a ten

0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.159
<v Speaker 1>minute brisk walk across campus from her desk. She began

0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:39.599
<v Speaker 1>logging thousands of steps during her work days, and intriguingly,

0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:44.680
<v Speaker 1>some chronic pain she'd been suffering from disappeared. She had

0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.159
<v Speaker 1>known that exercising more regularly would help, but it never

0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:52.800
<v Speaker 1>fit into her life until it had to. Maybe you

0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:58.159
<v Speaker 1>can do the same thing in the meantime. This is Laura.

0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.599
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:12.159
<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.039
<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything. Else,

0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.360
<v Speaker 1>just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:24.279
<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast pod. That's b E the number four, then

0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.720
<v Speaker 1>Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an

0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:31.560
<v Speaker 1>email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot

0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.520
<v Speaker 1>com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.200
<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.120
<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.279
<v Speaker 1>more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart

0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.720
<v Speaker 1>Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

0:05:52.720 --> 0:06:01.839
<v Speaker 1>favorite shows.