This is a difficult post for me to write. The title of this post is basically a lie.
I’m sorry.
I don’t actually believe you can “find” a permanent fitness routine that never changes.
What I believe is you can find a routine the works for you right now, at this moment in your life. That routine may change tomorrow.
I know this. I went through an emotionally abusive relationship with exercise for over 15 years.
A healthy exercise routine changes with the seasons. What works in the rising energy of the summer may not work in the stillness of winter. A balanced exercise routine changes with the seasons of your life. This is even so with morning routines, which you can read about here.
It’s your job to tune in and listen to what your body is saying.
A healthy exercise routine changes with the seasons. What works in the rising energy of the summer may not work in the stillness of winter. A balanced exercise routine changes with the seasons of your life.
How do I know? I’ve lived it.
For most of my life I have over exercised. I used exercise to punish my body for what I ate and what it looked like.
I’ve felt self-conscious in my body since before I knew there was a label for it. Most of my life I felt ashamed of my body.
I don't remember life without exercise. I grew up playing sports. This was my community. It was my identity. It was how I connected to friends and how I related to my family.
There was one problem. I never felt connected to my body. I couldn’t relate to myself.
I’m grateful for the experience of knowing that having an exercise routine is a key component to living a healthy lifestyle and that the discipline to stick to one is second nature to me; however, it hasn’t been until recently where I can look you in the eye and tell you I now have a healthier relationship with exercise.
Can you relate?
This isn’t just about when I was younger either. When I started to focus on my own health journey after getting sick (you can read more about that here), my old habitual attitudes toward exercise resurfaced. There wasn’t a long run or high intensity workout I would miss.
Yet if I was really honesty with myself, I was outwardly focused on how I wanted to look rather than how I wanted to feel.
If I was really honesty with myself, I never felt good after a high intensity workout. Don’t get me wrong; there was always a workout high. Oh that high. It felt amazing, but the exhaustion lasted long after the high was gone.
As someone who has long suffered from adrenal failure I had to get real with myself. I knew I couldn’t help others find health if I wasn’t willing to examine old belief patterns that were not serving me.
I had to learn to let go of what I thought exercise should look like and instead learn to focus on what felt right in my body.
It was about learning to not hold on so tightly because I was afraid of change. I had to let go to see what was coming next.
It was about learning to not hold on so tightly because I was afraid of change. I had to let go to see what was coming next.
It hasn’t been easy. I’ve had to learn how to quiet the voice that tells me to push harder. It gets easier as time goes on.
Currently the exercise routine that works with my hectic schedule is a combination of yoga, Core Fusion and Pilates. I will always feel most at home in my body on my yoga mat and with the combination of Pilates and Core Fusion I feel strong, centered and energized. I am able build strength without overtaxing my body.
Isn’t this what we are all looking for?
I am not writing this post to prescribe exercise advice, I’m not a personal trainer, or even to recommend that you adopt a similar exercise routine as I do.
I am writing to give you permission to change something that is not working for you. I am writing to give strength to your inner voice that already knows what is best. I write to give you permission to get quiet and to tune in. What you hear is telling.
Movement should be something we do to feel good. It should be something we do to celebrate our bodies, not punish them.
Let go and see how life evolves.
xo
-K