How to start (and continue) movement

Here at Enrich, we’ve spoken a lot about the benefits that can come from incorporating movement into your life. Our bodies are designed to move, with a whole host of mental and physical health improvements coming alongside. Our wellness pillar Joyful Movement is movement reimagined, so that it can become a source of pleasure, a way to take time for yourself and connect with your body. Engaging in regular movement can help with stress management, improved sleep, and community building.

Our theme for this month is Appreciate. Applying this concept of appreciation to movement can completely shift the way we approach fitness. The language we use can have a powerful effect on our experiences. Moving from ‘I should exercise more’ to ‘I get to move my body today’ can help us to appreciate all that our body is doing for us already and keep focused on our goals.

So when you are feeling ready to take on a new form of movement – where do you begin? Almost everyone has the goal to move more and make it a part of their lifestyle, but we know that it can be a challenge to form a consistent habit. Follow our top tips to set yourself up for success.

To begin, let’s consider some of the most common barriers that can be experienced when trying to incorporate movement into our lives.

- Trying to overhaul our entire lifestyle and taking on too much too soon. Setting small, achievable goals might feel frustratingly slow, but over time they will add up. Going from never exercising to setting yourself the goal of going to the gym four times a week is daunting and will set you up for burnout and potentially injury.

- Choosing exercise that we don’t enjoy. The most effective exercise plan is the one that works for you and that you enjoy, not the one that looks the best on Instagram or promises the quickest results. So this could be building strength with a structured programme in the gym, but it can also be rollerblading, sea swimming or gentle stretching. Get curious about all different kinds of movement, to consider what might suit your personality best. Are you a high-energy person who thrives on competition, or more of a chilled-out yogi?

- Creating a workout plan that doesn’t take your personal circumstances into account. Forming any new habit is difficult, and exercise does require time and planning. We need to be able to assess our priorities and be prepared to say no to something else. If a whole week goes by and we didn’t achieve any of our fitness goals, instead of beating ourselves up, we can use curiosity to figure out why things didn’t work out as planned and figure out what to adjust next week.

- Holding back because of a lack of confidence in our abilities. The gym and the world of fitness can be intimidating, filled with people who seemingly know exactly what they are doing. To the best of your abilities, stay away from the comparison game. Everyone starts somewhere, and this is for you and your wellbeing, not to impress a stranger.

Here are our top tips for building that movement habit and making it something that will become a part of your life:

-  Don’t forget to warm up. Five minutes of dynamic stretching, using active movements to flex and warm the muscles that you will be using, eases your body into movement, and can really help reduce the sore, aching muscles the next day.

-  Find a time of day that works for you, whether that be early morning, during lunchtime or on the weekend. Remember also that this can change. Different seasons of life bring different pressures and priorities, so although right now you might only be able to schedule in a quick15-minute sweat in the morning, this might not always be the case. The most important thing is to get moving in whatever way you can.

-  Plan and take rest days whenever you need them.

-  Focus on moderate intensity. What this looks like varies depending on your fitness level, but generally it’s breathing a little heavier and feeling warmer, but not completely out of breath or sweating a lot. Getting this level of exercise two to three times a week is a great place to start.

-  Wear comfortable clothing. In a space where you already might feel unsure of yourself and our abilities, be kind and take all the steps you can to make yourself more comfortable.

-  Have a plan B. If it’s raining so you can’t go for your walk, or the machine you want is busy in the gym, be prepared to be flexible and know what you’ll do instead.