Bump Life

Hey everyone! I know its Saturday…and I know you may have read this post LAST Friday, but this Fit Tip didn’t make the transfer to my new blog layout, so I wanted to post it again!

I was excited to see this article from NPR posted on the page of my Friends over atGroupExPro titled “Stand up, Walk Around, Even for 20 minutes”

It builds on a few conversations I have been having both around the blogosphere and IRL (I had to throw in the “in real life” slang there, since I am soo geeky) about the difference between ‘Health’ and ‘Fitness’.

A fitness friend posed the question. “Are 15 minute workouts worth it?”

She received a slew of responses from “yes, as a busy mom, sometimes its all I can do” to “No, people are fooling themselves if they think 15 minutes do anything”

I freely admit that the former avid exerciser in me often will skip a workout if I can’t make it a long enough one. But the problem with that mentality, is that over the last 4 years, I have skipped more workouts than I have done…

I have had to change my attitude about what it means to be healthy and now fall firmly in the any-exercise-is-good-for-you camp.

I strongly suggest you go and read the NPR article, but here are my favorite points.

 

1. Research shows that people who stand up for every 20 minutes of sitting have a lower rate of diabetes than people who sit for the full workday.
2. Walking may be the single best exercise on the planet
3. Warm up prior to exercise, but don’t stretch, it sends a signal to your brain your muscles is about to be damaged. But warming up the tissue with a warm up IS important.
4. You can become healthy with much lower time and intensity of exercise than it takes to become fit
5. Chocolate milk is a great recovery drink!

Lets change our attitudes about what it means to be fit and lets focus on getting healthy!  Now, if you’ll excuse me…I am going for a walk!