Not too long ago I spoke about the importance of getting active and how you can use your time at the park while your kids play to fit some training in.
This past weekend, Zay and I had the opportunity to spend time with some beautiful rainbow families, at a local park. Over the course of the morning, conversation turned to their desire to get more active.
We spoke about how the park can be the perfect place to fit in a little exercise. These mums all agreed with me. At the same time, they also expressed how they enjoyed being able to sit and have a chat, wishing there was a coffee van near by.
This got me thinking. Even though for me it seems simple to head outside and train, this group of mums showed me that even though they WANTED to get more active, they still didn’t seem to know HOW.
I get it. Making any type of change in your life can be confronting. Changing old habits that you are comfortable with is a very daunting thought. Especially when the change you are making is going to purposely put you in a state of discomfort for a period of time.
You really have to get used to the feeling of pushing yourself beyond what is easy. It takes time and commitment to sticking to feeling uncomfortable.
When I spoke about park training a few blogs ago, I included a basic program that I knew would be safe and easy for anymum (haha see what I did there??) to follow which you can read here. These ladies made me realise that this may have been a little too much for people who are new to exercise.
I spent a few days thinking, “how can I help them feel confident that they can start being more active TODAY??”
What I have come up with is far simpler than what I spoke about in my original blog. It may not be where everyone wants or needs to start, but it will definitely be a start.I realised that they used their park time to socialise and have a little time out from their day to connect with friends. If they went to the park and simply trained while their kids played, they would be losing something from their day that was rewarding for them.
When we are taking stuff away from ourselves for whatever reason it leaves us feeling as though we are missing out. When what we take away is a reward, it becomes even more challenging to maintain a new habit.
Instead of taking away the social aspect of their park adventure, I wanted to add to it.
My solution to this was instead of asking these parents to miss their catch up, why not keep it and add a walk in as well. Instead of sitting on that park bench while the kids played, hop up and walk a few laps around the park while they chatted. This may not eliminate that desire for a hot cup of coffee close by on those chilly days, but it would certainly help warm them up a little.
There is a reason why we are encouraged to reach 10,000 steps a day. Walking is such an underrated activity yet has HUGE implications on our health. If you had half an hour of walking to your day, while you are at the park you are going to start seeing some great changes to your physical and mental wellbeing and you don’t need to miss out on the latest gossip while you do it.
So why not give it a try. If starting with an all out training session at the park seems a bit too much, work your way up to it. When you can become more active with your friends as well, you will feel far more inclined to actually show up and do it. No one likes letting their training/walking buddies down.
If you would like to learn how you can become more active just ask us.