Exercise is Medicine: Make a Habit & Get Your MED.

Being physically active is preventative medicine

Exercise is medicine.
I think at some level we all know this. We've all heard it in some shape or form, whether it was from the doctor or some new research thats making the news. But really we already know it, at some intellectual or cognitive level at least.
Do we put that knowledge into action?
Probably not! Sure, it's easy to tell ourselves that we're too tired, don't have time, don't know how, are too unfit to go to a gym, don't enjoy exercise, don't know the best exercise for (insert whatever ails you here), don't want to exercise on our own or whatever the reason excuse is. The truth is its just a matter of habits.
Warning, tangent ahead!!

We are built to be energy efficient, right down to the way we think.

I like to use the analogy of walking across an overgrown patch of waste ground: The first time is always the most challenging, because you're pushing through the weeds, picking your way through thorns and carefully doing your best not to come a cropper on obstacles unseen in the growth. When you get to the other side and look back theres a bit of a path left behind. If you take the same route again soon, its a bit easier because there's still a bit of a path; some of the weeds will have sprung back, and need to be pushed aside again or pruned back, but it's still a bit easier than the first time. With regular, repeated travel, you create a path which you can follow easily; the grass is tramped down, the thorns pushed back and the obstacles clearly visible.  However, if you don't go that way for a while, it'll be either partially or fully overgrown and you'll be starting again.
In neuroscience (the study of the brain) there's an expression for this..

Neurons that fire together, wire together.

Neurons are the nerve cells that make up our brains and internal communication systems.Every action, every thought depends on a message making it down a path. When a path is taken more frequently, the body improves that path by making it wider, so the message can reach its destination more quickly and efficiently.

The thicker bands have more neurons, allowing better transmission of whatever message they carry.

Over time, less used paths get overgrown, In the brain, the path less travelled thins, as energy is needed to maintain each and every pathway. The thicker the pathway, the more energy needed to maintain it. This ability of the brain to rewire itself in response to the demands placed on it is known as neuroplasticity.

The point of this basic introduction to neuroscience?

Same old habit or a  new direction?

When we are in the HABIT of saying "I can't" we thicken the connections on that path, making this the answer we default to. How many times have you caught yourself saying"I can't" to something you've never even attempted? How do you know since you've never attempted it??? The answer is you don't know, you're just defaulting to the most energy efficient answer. It's not necessarily the CORRECT answer, its just the easiest one for your brain to throw out there. Now that you're aware of this, you can take action to stop it from sabotaging your success. Anytime you catch yourself saying that horrible four letter word, pause and ask if that is the correct answer, or is it the just the easiest one to reach.

What's the next step?

Ban "can't" and replace with "can try"

Change your language. Eliminate that four letter word (can't) from your vocabulary. There are other good reasons to do this, but they'll keep for another day (if you really want to know more on this ask me about brain regions activated by language and neurotransmitter cascades in response to certain words). Get into the habit of saying "I can" and then giving it a go. You'll be surprised at what you can accomplish when you let go of this horrible four letter word! Obviously, a single day of saying "I can do it" will not overcome years of a habitual negative, but it'll start you along a new path. Of course, when you're forging a new path, there will be thorns and pricks that have to be pushed aside, there will be obstacles over which you may stumble, but pick yourself up and refocus on reaching the destination. Over time you'll become aware of what you stumble on most often and will eventually catch yourself before you trip up, and you'll take a slight detour around  it.

Back on topic.
So, exercise is medicine, and the main reason most people don't stick to an exercise plan is mostly a matter of changing habits. It's easier to stay motivated to keep working on making those changes if you are seeing results from the actions you're already taking. Exercise is medicine, and like any other kind of exercise, it has a minimum effective dose. If the medication says take 200mg then you take 200mg. Why? Because less than that may not be an effective dose.

For exercise, regardless of the desired physical training effect, the minimum effective dose is challenging yourself. 

The training session or workout is only a stimulus that can create in your body a chain of events that allow you to become fitter, slimmer, stronger etc. This is called adaptation. If the stimulus isn't enough of a challenge, then no adaptation or change is need for the body to be ready for that level of challenge the next time it faces it.

If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you.

Of course, in order to make the most of the stimulus, appropriate nutrition and rest (including sleep!!)  are needed. What foods and how much of them will depend on  your current situation and what it is you're aiming to achieve.

Elemental Limerick Slackline Demo

Today my body kind of hates me. Sore shoulders, sore legs and a sore butt, all resulting from a 4 hour slackline demo & workshop yesterday in Limerick city. But it's so worth it! I had the privilege of introducing hundreds of people to the fun challenge of walking a slackline for the first time, and what a diverse range of people gave it a go! With some help and support from myself of course, safety first!

The youngest hadn't even started school, the oldest retired nearly 20 years ago. I love & admire that kind of spirit! I had a couple of rugby players, a bunch of runners of various levels, a few footballers and several housewives all give it a go and enjoy it. Oh, and more kids than I could count!

There were a couple of standout moments and absolute stars though...

One was when a father in his early 40's, heavily overweight (he said "I'm over 20stone, I doubt that line will hold me" but was reassured when I pointed out the breaking strain on the line is 2,500kg) and managing injuries to both knees and one ankle faced his fears and gave it a go. And really enjoyed it! Now, he was working hard to stay balanced but you should have seen his kids faces light up as they saw their daddy walk the 'tightrope'. Within a couple of minutes, his posture straightened, his face relaxed and he realised that he was much more able than he thought, once he let go of 'I can't' and embraced 'I can try'.

Another was when a heavily tattooed, heavily muscled, scary looking guy gave it a go. Turns out he was an MMA fighter on his way back from the gym. The poor lad's legs didn't know what was happening when he stepped up on the line and they started shaking like crazy! As it happens he was a total gentleman and a good sport into the bargain. I would love to see how he'd get on trying it before a gym session.

All in all, a really enjoyable afternoon of slackline instruction & performing. I gotta do this more often, it's so rewarding and certainly worth all the aching muscles today!

Challenging myself

I started this year with the goal of challenging myself, I mean REALLY challenging myself with at least 3 events/ personal challenges; basically taking my comfort zone and kicking the shit out of it! This was NOT a New Years Resolution (I think NYR's suck), but something that came about through one of my 'Self-Stocktakes'.

As you'll probably know if you've been reading this blog for a while, I have quite the dislike for running. No disrespect to those who enjoy it, and I'm not dissing it in any way, it's just soooo not my thing. My first challenge for the year? Run a half marathon, but without doing a load of running in preparation for it. Let me be clear about this, I DID train for it, but in my own way, which involved only running once (or less) per week.

Having very little running experience prior to making this decision (the previous September I challenged myself to run for an hour, and covered 10km. This was double the length of time I had previously run for). In March, having signed up for the half marathon taking place as part of the Tralee international marathon on 16th March, that 1 hour-ish 10km was still my longest ever run. I set my target time at 2:13:00 for the 21km of the half.
Getting a bit apprehensive about my ability to keep running for more than an hour, I went for a run on the 11th, and did 1hr15 of sustainable discomfort, knowing I could have kept going for another while.
On the big day, It wasn't easy, particularly along miles 9-11, where something (self-doubt? limiting beliefs about what i was capable of) kept telling me to slow down and walk, 'just for this bit'. This was a PERSONAL challenge to RUN EVERY STEP of the way, something I was DETERMINED to accomplish! I used my 'lamp-post motivation' technique to keep running, every.single.step!

The result? I smashed my target time by almost 20mins, coming in with an official time of 1:53:33. Next year, I vowed, I'll do the full one.

Having more or less sat on my laurels (and ass if I were to be brutally honest) since the half, I recently came across the Toughathlon, a 10Km, 20 obstacle, military style assault course. With such fittingly named obstacles as the 'claustrophobia crawl' 'electromania' and the infamous 'nipple-popper' I signed up with about a week to go.

On the day, I did better than expected. The first 3-4 km were basically running through marshy farmland, designed to wear out the legs. Surprisingly, this didn't phase me in the slightest!
The result? Finished in about an hour, with bags of energy to spare(though I suspect adrenaline was a big factor in that). I'd have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite(or maybe because of) the crawling through mud and ice, electrocution and frequent high walls.

A self stocktake in the days following that has me thinking that I need something considerably more demanding, both physically and psychologically, to really achieve my goal of kicking the crap outta my comfort zone.

Yesterday, I saw this: http://www.oceanfloorrace.com 260km through desert over 4 days, and thought "that looks like an amazing race for the ultrarunners!" Just to be clear, I don't regard myself as being even a runner, much less an ultrarunner, so I wasn't even remotely considering entering it, simply appreciating it.

But it's funny how things can change overnight..

I can't afford it, I'm nowhere near fit enough, I'm generally uncomfortable in temperatures above 26 degrees Celsius, and being a pasty-skinned paddy, I burn at the mention of sunshine, and yet, in a strange way, for some bizarre reason I can't even begin to fathom, I kinda want to do this...

Challenge Yourself

"If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you"
- Mal Kelly

I'm sure some of my clients think I'm like a broken record with this saying, but I only repeat it until it sinks in, and they challenge themselves. The funny thing is, once they begin to routinely challenge themselves, they see real results! You can't make progress without getting out of your comfort zone, and once you get your head around that fact, THEN you can knuckle down and work on getting the results you're looking for.

Uh oh, I used that awful 4-letter word "work". Guess what? You want results you'll have to work for them; if there's no challenge, there's no change. And despite your efforts and intentions, there will be setbacks. Big deal, that's part of life!

A setback can be a setup for a comeback,.. so learn from each setback, learn from each failure, learn from each obstacle, and become stronger and better prepared for the future as a result.

You have to LEARN what will work for YOU if you want to achieve your goals, so here's something to think about:
"If you are unwilling to learn, no one can help you.
If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you."

YOU are the only one holding you back, the same as YOU are the only one who can drive you forward. Isn't it time you made yourself unstoppable?

Challenge yourself

It's essential to break out of your comfort zone in life and do something that you don't particularly enjoy, but you know in your heart and soul you should be doing more of anyway. For me recently, this has been running.

Whaaaaat??? I hear you cry!

Yep. As many of you already know, I absolutely detest running, purely as a matter of personal preference. Yes, it's a great form of cardiovascular exercise; yes, it's something that anyone can do without needing any expensive or specialised equipement; That doesn't mean I have to like doing it. I'd much rather be surfing, or slacklining, or juggling, or being set on fire. Well, maybe not that last one, but you see what I'm getting at. 

"But Mal, you look like a long distance runner, and you're a fitness instructor, you must love running.." 

I have clients who like to run, and they enjoy it, and thats great, but that doesn't mean their hobby has to be my hobby! However, it is foreseeable part of the job that i will have to run a few Km on occasion. I can accept that and get on with it, much the same as a cab driver realises that sometimes getting stuck in traffic comes with the job. So I've been getting out and doing some running, and *shudder* increasing my distance and the length of time I spend out on a run. And it's going well. By which I mean I haven't dropped dead, gotten injured or suddenly lost the will to live.

It ain't glamourous, at least not when I'm doing it; it ain't pretty, or at least I'm not when I'm finished. I'm a red faced sweaty salty wreck by the time I'm ready for my cooldown. And thats how you should be too, if you're truly challenging yourself. If you still look pretty at the end, chances are you could have pushed a lot harder.