How I accidentally stumbled upon an interesting example that illustrates the “New Way To Look At Exercise” concept…
If you’ve checked out my previous blog post titeld “5 ‘Fit Steps’ To Getting The Most Out Of 2008” you would’ve came across what I call “A New Way To Look At Exercise”
It’s a mental shift towards enjoying your workouts and starting to look forward to moving your body.
Well, about two days ago, while researching the top New Year’s resolutions… I stumbled upon an interesting comment by a man called Richard Waddell that caught my attention, it said:
“The one resolution I ever kept was not for
New Year’s and it inadvertently helped me
to end up being fit at 60.”
Interestingly, it turns out that resolution came about because Richard has always preferred being sedentary.
The guy Rode a bike for over 20 years!
Strangely, he claims that he skipped more days than he rode because he hated it so much at first (typical for so many people trying to go from total sedentary to a fitness overhaul).
What’s interesting is that Richard started riding more consistently as he focused on the benefits, the mood change and elevated energy immediately after the workout.
The next phase is when he discovered how exercise allowed him to “zone out” mentally (this one is major for me, and if you’re often stressed from work you ought to have a feel for this next time you exercise. Simply block out everything other than working out for 40, 50 or 60 minutes when your at the gym or outdoors)
In his own words:
“And after a few months you develop the ability to “zone out”
so you can think, listen to music, or daydream and only be
peripherally aware of the physical effort.”
(Have you experienced that during a workout? I find it comes easy when there isn’t many people around at the gym… or when your outdoors and looking far ahead, kind of ‘lost in the moment’)
Richard also mentions something which is often overlooked; visualization. (I touched on this concept in October’s post, “4 Keys to Mental Focus in Physical Training”)
His example may seem a bit weird at first, yet sometimes it’s good to illustrate a point with extreme examples:
“The pedalling is pumping the music into your body; it sweeps
through your system, refreshing the cells and taking the toxins with it.
It exits through your feet; the toxins dissipate and the
cleansed energy goes back into re-inforcing the whole cycle.”
OK, so you’ve got the mental picture of this guy’s journey… now what about his “Rock Jump” technique?
Well, it turns out Richard was pretty bored with the usual rope skipping so he tweaked it into a more interesting version he calls “Jump Rock”.
It’s worth a look if for no other reason to convince yourself that “You too can be creative, add bits to your workouts or variations to make them MORE FUN”
Here’s what Richard says about it at age 60:
“I believe I’ve developed more stamina
and added more muscle in the last two years
than I should be able to at my age.
I believe that’s because I actually enjoy JumpRock so I do it as much as I can…”
It’s worth checking out the video demonstration of JumpRock at this link (give it a few seconds to load).
Hope this inspires you to enjoy your next workout.
Even more, hope you picked up some mental tactics to experiment with, the kind that’ll generate momentum to make 2008 a great year towards achieving your fitness goals and a great figure.
To making a noticeable difference in 2008,
M. Jamal
P.S. Would love to hear your thoughts on this and how you’re planning to add momentum to your fitness plans for 2008.
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Hi,
What’s so weird about my visuallization??
Seriously, thanks for the write up and publishing the link. It’s the first time I’ve found myself on a google alert. But even better, it should raise the profile of “Energy Focused Exercise”
Best Regards,
Richard Waddell
Funny thing reading about this in your site. I’ve been working out since I can remember. First started at school, then came that phase where girls want to go to the gym, so i went. After that I continued for some years, but then it wasn’t enough, so I started rugby. But it’s such a violent practice for your bones, articulations, muscles and whole body, that I had to quit. After that I didn’t feel like going back to the gym, so I started jogging on the road. Soon it felt like routine, so I started doing it some days and swimming the others. But I wasn’t happy with only that, ’till the day I read about the benefits of dancing, so I started learning belly dance and its aerobic counterparts.
I can only tell you it’s been loads of fun!
I never want to stop working out, even when I have to get up at 6:30 am!
Hi Richard,
Great seeing your comments here. It’s a good example of what’s possible at any age if your committed and take small consistent steps.
About your visualization; by weird I meant that most fitness enthusiasts would feel the effects yet hardly analyze it in that way. Either way, it does help give intensity and purpose to every workout.
Somehow I feel the biggest stumbling block for beginners is ‘mental’ (that’s why I focused much on your visualization and ‘zoning out’ during workouts). In brief, it’s the phase of going from “this exercise is hard on my body” to “wow, it gives me mental clarity, I’m starting to enjoy it”
Patricia,
Going from gym… to rugby… to dance. Interesting (especially the ‘rugby’ part, wasn’t expecting that. Maybe I should post an article about your fitness journey next time ‘-)
I’m glad you’ve found something that makes you feel that you never want to stop working out. It’s so hard explaining this concept to someone who’s just starting out, wants to lose some weight then stop!!
Your ‘enjoying dance so much’ reminds me of something I mentioned about wakeboarding in my earlier post ( 5 ‘Fit Steps’ To Getting The Most Out Of 2008).
It’s like your performing, letting your mind flow… it hardly feels like a workout, yet you get the benefits. And, if you do decide to do ‘gym type workouts’ you’ll probably be set on improving your dancing… so you’ll enjoy that too.
Wish you more fun in your next workout even if it’s at 6:30 in the morning ‘-)
I’ve started posting to YouTube because it’s more flexible and bulk uploads are availalbe.
http://www.youtube.com/QFEguy and click on PlayLists to see add JumpRope Sessions - titles start with date - ie: 2008_02_29 Jump Rock Session.
Or try http://www.questforendorphins.com/PlayLists.aspx for a more detailad view.
Almost anyone can learn and get as good as or better than I am at JumpRock and Heavy Hula Hands. The problem is convincing people of that.
I’m going to organiz
I’ve started posting to YouTube because it’s more flexible and bulk uploads are availalbe.
http://www.youtube.com/QFEguy and click on PlayLists to see add JumpRope Sessions - titles start with date - ie: 2008_02_29 Jump Rock Session.
Or try http://www.questforendorphins.com/PlayLists.aspx for a more detailed view.
Almost anyone can learn and get as good as or better than I am at JumpRock and Heavy Hula Hands. The problem is convincing people of that.
I’m going to organize the “tutorials” on YouTube so they are easily accessible as well.
Comments and suggestions on my site are encouraged.
Keep on (Jump)Rocking!!!
Thanks,
Richard Waddell
Hi M. Jamal:
Just read your reply. I use visualizations combined with action to essentially program the subconscious. I think it was Norman Lear years ago who had cancer and visualized the white blood cells as knights on chargers tracking down the invaders. Same principle - visualize and act and the subconscious will cause analogous behvavior in the mind/metabolism. My opinion, but I can think of many occasions where it seems to have worked. The action part is very important, again in my opinion.
Check out my video review of Psycho-cybernetics on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0671700758/ref=cm_cr_pr_recent?%5Fencoding=UTF8&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
It should be about the third review from the top of the list.
Also: What Is Energy Focused Exercise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qNTJiHKHrI
Regards,
Richard Waddell