It has been a while since I have written anything other than a workout post and today I wanted to share some thoughts…
I think we are drawn to CrossFit because we all have a little competitiveness in us. That might mean being competitive against another person in the gym or only against yourself. For me it is a little of both. About 6 months ago I purchased a fitness tracker/smart watch. Why you ask? Well, there were a few reasons. I sleep terrible and I really wanted to see just how bad that was and work on it. I also wanted to truly see what I was getting from my workouts and hated wearing my old school heart rate monitor. Lastly, I was also curious about how much I moved around on a daily basis. The sleep is another issue for another day but the MOVING is what I want to talk about in this post. So, what is up with the title of this, “All You Need Is…..”, well that is easy. All you need is one, two, or three of these things in your life to help a little more with your fitness outside of the gym:
Since I have purchased my watch a few friends and gym members have as well. I think for all of us it has been eye opening either how much we move or even more so, how much we DO NOT move! I won’t lie, at the beginning it was more of an effort for me to try to get my daily step goals (usually my goal is at least 10,000) but having this little reminder on my wrist made me want to reach that goal everyday. Other friends telling me what their steps were was also motivating. I was walking around the house at the end of the day if I was within a few hundred steps of my goal just to get them in. Now I have no issues. Of course, I am sure many of you are saying to yourself, “well you own a gym, you are walking around all day! I sit at a desk.” Here is where the fitness tracker comes into play and all the data that they provide. Here are my steps today, a day that I only worked ONE CLASS at the gym.
Here are my steps from Sunday my ONLY day off from work all week:
I usually average 10,000 steps a day even if there are days below that number I make sure to make it up by moving more on other days. This has made me aware and makes me want to move! Here is my steps data from the app for my watch for the last 4 weeks.
Who cares you ask and what is your point? Some days I want to just sit and do nothing but parking a little further from where I need to go or taking the dog on an extra walk is really all you need to do to get moving more. Get up from your desk for 5 minutes every hour and walk around, walk at lunch, don’t park in that front space! All you need is a good pair of shoes (item #1 of All You Need….) to start hitting those steps. I challenge you to try to get 10,000 steps in a day, 10,000 steps 3 days a week or 10,000 on average EVERY WEEK! It is not as easy at seems but the rewards and health benefits are huge. Especially those of you that cherry pick and don’t show up on running days, you need to be moving. Have you seen the studies about just how bad sitting real is for you? Here are links to a few I found:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/sitting/faq-20058005
https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/11/health/sitting-increases-risk-of-death-study/index.html
Are you having trouble leaning out? Do you know how many steps you average daily? I guarantee the people whose muscles you admire are not sitting around when they are not in the gym. Traveling, too busy at work to come in, have an injury that is limiting the movements you can do in the gym? Even more reason to be aware of how much you are moving and much you are sitting on your butt! So, my challenge to you is put on those shoes and get moving. So many people I see in the gym are wearing a built-in “coach” right on their wrist and are not using it to their advantage. Yea, I am talking to YOU! The ones with the fancy Apple Watches. It is cool to get texts, answer calls and whatever else you do with it, but set it to tell you to MOVE, set a step goal and make yourself achieve that DAILY! Especially if you don’t come to class! That should be a given that you make sure to move around more those day. If you do not have a fancy watch use your phone (item #2 of All You Need) and use it to track your walks, runs, or steps. I am pretty sure every person in the gym has a smart phone capable of tracking walks, runs, step. Endmundo is a good app, or Map my Run. Or item #3 to make it a no brainer, get a fitness tracker. For as little as $30, yes $30 you can get a basic tracker to wear all day on your wrist and get tracking those steps. I can help with some options if you need recommendations. Then start sharing your info with friends and begin to encourage and support each other on the quest for more movement. It is OK to binge watch an entire series on Netflix on a lazy Saturday or Sunday but ONLY if you have reached your steps for the day or have already averaged 10,000 for the week! Try to get a daily average of 10,000 for an entire month and tell me the changes you notice in your body. It is worth it, I promise, your heart and waistline will thank you! Let’s start seeing some pics and numbers posted on our gym page and maybe you will motivate someone else. Maybe March the drawing will be for those that hit the 10,000 average daily steps and not how many classes they attend!?! Happy stepping!