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We will all be in better shape when we care more about our insides than our outsides.

– Nicole Porter

Exercise is good for more than just burning calories…

Have you ever eaten something bad for you and said “I’ll just work it off in the gym” or “I’ll definitely need to get some more exercise tomorrow”?  I know I have. In fact, I spent a good decade in my teens and early 20’s believing that as long as I burned off more than I ate, I would lose weight, and that if I ate too much, I should just work out more. Looking back, it’s no wonder I had migraines. It’s also no wonder I have so much additional injury in my body as a result of overuse.

When I worked in the fitness industry, I realized my clients had the same mentality – that it was all about calories eaten and calories burned. Whether they were eating diet food or binge-eating then working out to make up for it, we were all making 2 big mistakes:

1. we thought all calories were created equal (100 calories of sugar is NOT the same as 100 calories of quinoa or fish or kale!)
2. we didn’t realize that exercise does not make up for poor diet. 

But there is a bigger, underlying problem. The problem is that almost everyone is focused on the wrong thing. Most people are more concerned with the shape of their abs, butt, arms, chest, hips, biceps (or something else) than they are about the shape of their liver or blood (both of which are a sign of a healthy body). They’re more concerned about burning calories than they are about the quality of calories they’re eating. And it’s unfortunate because the reality is that the body will comfortably settle at a healthy weight, but only once your insides are functioning properly.

That’s why this week is about shifting the way you think about exercise so that you fully understand that:

1. exercise does not make up for poor diet,
2. weight loss and weight management is more about food than exercise, and
3. every minute counts. The “all or nothing” mentality that convinces you that a quick walk or workout doesn’t ‘count’ could be what’s keeping you from reaching rewarding and long-lasting wellness goals.

I sincerely hope this week gives you a new appreciation for your body (inside and out) and helps you understand that when your insides are functioning properly, the outside will naturally follow.

IT’S TIME TO EXERCISE FOR THE RIGHT REASONS.

If you’re like most, you exercise for these reasons:

1. to burn calories,
2. to reduce fat,
3. to build strength,
4. to maintain/lose weight,
5. to de-stress.

These are good reasons if they’re done with the intention to improve overall health, but unfortunately, most often, our reasons for working out are focused on superficial, external results. This week (and beyond), instead of focusing on the outside, we’re going to focus on the inside, which means these are your new reasons to exercise:

1. to reduce stress-induced blood glucose,
2. to move toxins out of your body, 
3. to strengthen your immune system, 
4. to strengthen your brain!

#1: EXERCISE MAKES USE OF THE STRESS-INDUCED GLUCOSE IN YOUR BLOOD.  

Recall the zebra and lion scenario:

• The zebra senses a stressor, the lion. 
• The zebra must run to save her life.
• In order to run (move/exercise), her body starts to break down tissues in order to access glucose for energy (glucose is stored in tissues).
• Now she has the glucose. What’s she going to do with it?
• She’s going to run for her life (aka exercise)!

In your day to day life, your ‘stressor’ might be short deadlines, a conflict, lack of sleep, dehydration, poor diet, financial commitments, etc. What’s the best way to deal with your stressors (and the new energy in your blood)? Exercise!  

#2: EXERCISE MOVES TOXINS THROUGH YOUR BODY. 

In your body, you have a system called The Lymphatic System (one of those many systems that make up the ‘team’ in your body), which consists of vessels, nodes and fluids that serve to ‘clean’ your blood and strengthen your immune system. How does it work?

• Lymph (fluid containing waste, hormones, fats, proteins, red blood cells, water, tumour cells, debris) is squeezed out of blood vessels and enters lymphatic vessels.
• Vessels carry the lymph to 600+ lymph nodes and other organs (spleen, tonsils, thymus, appendix) where they are filtered/cleaned of waste, tumour cells, debris, bacteria, infection.
• This filtered/cleaned lymph re-enters blood to recirculate within your body.

What does exercise have to do with the Lymphatic System?
The Lymphatic System has no pump. This means in order for it to move these toxins throughout your body, it requires muscle contraction (which acts like a pump) to squeeze the lymph along (similar to a toothpaste tube). This muscle contraction happens in the form of – you guessed it – exercise!  On the flipside, this also means that a lack of movement/exercise can aggravate lymph overload.

A lymphatic massage and skin brushing can also help with lymphatic circulation.

#3: EXERCISE HELPS TO BUILD IMMUNITY.

These 600+ nodes mentioned above also produce lymphocytes (helpful white blood cells) which help to improve your immune response and kill bacteria/infection.  If these nodes are overwhelmed and overloaded, they’re not going to have the time or energy to produce immune-supporting white blood cells. So let’s keep this system healthy and optimally functioning so you can fight those unexpected immune system imbalances that may come your way!

#4: EXERCISE IMPROVES COGNITIVE HEALTH.

Exercise strengthens/creates neurons.

• Remember how I mentioned that your brain has 86 billion cells called neurons? They are the basic unit, the foundation of your nervous system, and they help to make trillions of connections every second of the day.
• Everything we think and feel and do would be impossible without the work of neurons. From being conscious to breathing involuntarily to choosing to go for a bike ride or choosing to stay on the couch, choosing to shut down the TV or choosing to binge another episode, everything happens here.
• Well, when you exercise, more specifically do something for your cardiorespiratory system – running, cycling, anything that’s keeping your heart rate up – blood and oxygen flow increases to your brain. This oxygenation helps to create new neurons and also help the existing ones function better. 
• And with more and stronger neurons and connections amongst them, it can lead to a huge list of benefits to cognitive health.

Exercise improves mood.

• This is such an important point, considering that anxiety and depression are so prevalent.
• When you have a thought, your neurons pass messages via something called a neurotransmitter. Exercise increases production of serotonin, the neurotransmitter that’s responsible for mood. A lack of serotonin can lead to thoughts that are negative or obsessive, or contribute to you being irritable, sleepless, or depressed so we definitely want to increase production wherever possible.

Exercise improves memory and learning.

• Knowing that oxygen and blood flow contribute to new and stronger cells, it’s not hard to believe that memory and learning are improved with exercise. Researchers at UBC, found that regular aerobic exercise, the kind that gets your heart and your sweat glands pumping, boosts the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in verbal memory and learning.

All of these improvements strengthen the brain, shape the brain, helping to prevent or delay the effects of diseases like dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other age-related memory loss.

• This also means that since your brain is responsible for everything you think, feel and do, exercise can positively impact every aspect of your health.

DOES THIS MEAN MORE IS BETTER? NO!

• Exercise puts stress on your body. But the stress can be good or bad.
• The right exercise program can positively impact cortisol levels but the wrong exercise program can negatively impact cortisol levels.
• And remember what happens when cortisol is increased and the stress response is activated?
  • Estrogen goes up, testosterone goes down, anti-aging hormone goes down and so on. You can end up with hormone imbalance or at least more stress on your body which can contribute to a number the problems from weight gain to fatigue to memory problems, depression and more.
• The wrong exercise is
  • Excessive – this would include any trends that are telling you to be in the gym every single day.
  • Leaves you sore and stiff for days. This doesn’t mean that feeling stiff for a couple of days after workout is a bad thing. But if it’s ongoing and restricting movement, increasing inflammation in your body, and prohibiting you from moving without pain, then it’s probably the wrong exercise. Avoid exercise that is too intense. Take all measures to avoid exercise that is excessive, too intense, leaves you stiff or sore for days, or is causing you to sacrifice proper form or technique in an effort to advance or add weight (hire a qualified Personal Trainer to help ensure you use correct posture and technique in your exercises).
  • Might be someone else’s exercise. This means that just because someone is doing CrossFit doesn’t mean you should be doing CrossFit. Just because someone is running marathons doesn’t mean you should be running marathons. And just because someone else is doing hot yoga doesn’t mean you should be doing hot yoga. Find exercise you enjoy. Your body will know the difference between exercising and enjoy and exercise you don’t. Don’t do someone else’s exercise. The same way everyone reacts differently to emotional or mental stress, everyone reacts differently to exercise stress.  Keep this in mind when your friend asks you to do an intense CrossFit workout or marathon training when you really just feel like walking or cycling.
  • And sacrifices proper form for increased weight or intensity. You don’t need to spend too much time in a gym to see people sacrificing proper form for increased weight or intensity. The exercise that we do whether in the gym or at home or outside should always be done with proper posture in mind. If we aren’t always working with correct form, it can increase imbalance balance In the body, which may only get worse as you age, and it can result in injury, cause inflammation, exacerbate poor posture or poor form, and ultimately put stress on the body which is exactly what we’re trying to avoid. My background is dancing, personal training and pilates which means I have worked out with people of all shapes and sizes and motivations and I will say that the biggest problems happen on the gym floor when people have no direction from a qualified trainer.
  • Not enjoyable. Do activities you enjoy!!  If you hate the treadmill, get off.  Studies have shown that forced exercise actually DOES NOT promote the creation of new neurons of that neurogenesis I mentioned! Voluntary exercise, exercise you enjoy, however, DOES. If you love cycling, cycle. If you love hiking, hike. If you love running Hills, run hills. If you love being in the gym, then go to the gym. But don’t do activity because it’s going to burn calories or fat or keep you LOOKING healthy. Do activity because you love it and because you and your body and brain will benefit from it.

LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

As you view exercise differently, and as I ask all clients to do as they progress through their programs and beyond, pay attention. How does it truly feel to focus on your insides instead of your outsides? Is there less pressure or criticism? How does your body respond to stretching? How does it calm your nervous system, open up your body, and even help with digestion? Does it improve how you respond to stress throughout the day? And can you tell a difference in mental clarity, decision making, mood, memory? Journal or document your findings as much as possible.