moving

Am I too sedentary? 7 strategies to improve your movement outside of training

OperationMove · June 16, 2020 · Leave a Comment

It might seem like an odd question to come from people who run regularly, but it’s not as uncommon as you might think.

A lot of us have inconveniently computer dependent jobs and while we might get out for our run in the morning, we spend a whole lot of time sitting other than that. And sometimes, the running workout might be so intense, that it actually seems to enforce this. That’s not to say that rest is bad, or you shouldn’t have a lie down or binge watch Queer Eye on Netflix, but that often what is linked to your health isn’t how much time you spend exercising, but actually how much time you spend not moving at all. Which is a different conversation.

So, it becomes less about your run or your workout and more about how you actually spend your whole day and also how you utilise active recovery as opposed to complete rest.

I work from home so I do have a lot more flexibility in this than people who don’t. But even if you are working 9-5, there are ways that you can work it in to your day.

1. Take regular breaks

They don’t have to be huge, it can be as simple as getting up from your desk every hour or so. If you do have the flexibility what I like to do is to do some computer stuff for an hour, then maybe break that up with cooking, cleaning or errand or other tasks that get me moving a bit more. I think the tendency in our brain is to want to do things in blocks – so x hours of work and then do all of this ‘other stuff’ later but you might actually find yourself a lot more productive if you break it up more.

2. Cross training isn’t just for injury

Admittedly, pretty much the only time I hop on the exercise bike is when I am injured, but the benefits to cross-training aren’t just about developing or maintaining aerobic fitness, it’s about moving your body in a different way – especially as running is so repetitive. So for me my cross training of choice is swimming, CrossFit, walking and also yoga lately although for me and the style of yoga I do I would consider that more as body maintenance because I’m doing restorative yoga not a full practice. For me, swimming is probably the one I get the most out of, because it’s full body, it’s non impact and it’s a completely different movement pattern.

3. Could you walk there?

So many things I used to drive to, I now walk to. Now, admittedly if you live out of town this might not be a possibility for you. But maybe if you are at work and you have an errand to do you could walk to do that and then come back to the car before you go home – that kind of thing. Or maybe if you are having a meeting at work you could suggest a walking meeting (definitely the best kind of meeting). And if you do have to drive to your errands – maybe park a little bit further away so you can get in some extra moving that way.

4. Alphabet feet

This is one you can do at your desk. Use your feet to draw the letters of the alphabet. Pretty simple, but adds in a nice bit of foot mobility into your day.

5. Use environment cues to help you

I put my foam rollers and other assorted devices in the lounge room in front of the couch, so if I am sitting down they are there too, judging me. Have a look at your environment, is there something that is blocking you? You might like to do some yoga or stretching but do you have hard floors and that’s a deterrent. It might sound simple, but those little environmental cues can have a big impact. I find even with having my space set up in front of the TV, it’s not actually ideal because I don’t really want to do yoga with Spongebob in the background, so I’ve started moving it into the bedroom instead.

6. Pick something to work on through the week

This might be squat mobility (so accumulating time at the bottom of a squat), or it might be improving push ups or working on single leg balance – and then at several times through the day just take a minute or two to work on it. It’s a whole lot less intimidating when it’s only a minute and you don’t have to commit to a full routine.

7. Adjust your workout schedule

This is one that can be the most challenging to do. But if you are so exhausted or sore from training that it’s impacting your movement through the rest of the week, it might be time to reduce your load. Consistency is greater than intensity – so if your hard workout is stopping you from being consistent, it’s probably too much right now.

The important thing is to try new things. It might take you awhile to find something that you enjoy and feels good for you and your body and that is okay. Just keep trying things on until you find what works for you.

Why I don’t believe in motivation

OperationMove · December 5, 2014 · 8 Comments

I don’t really believe in motivation. I don’t. I think that on any given day all of us do things that are necessary that we would probably rather not do, but the end result is a required one. Things like making lunches and going to work or any manner of other things that have to get done. Like washing dishes. Apparently they have to be done every day. We don’t require motivation for any of those things, they just get done. Ok, maybe sometimes the dishes don’t get done every day. But eventually, they get done.

The thing is that things that are good for us, aren’t going to feel good all the time.

So I might not be particularly keen on doing the dishes but I am pretty keen on not living in squalor. So I do the dishes. I might not be keen on making dinner for fussy eaters, but I do and whenever they try something new I do a little victory dance. Motivation doesn’t come into any of that.

One day I might be really motivated and think I am going to have an awesome week with my diet and then a few hours later I find myself on my third helping of cookie ice cream deliciousness. Motivation is fickle. It comes and it goes. I don’t need motivation to eat a good diet during the week. I need planning and meals ready to go in the fridge so that when I come home ravenous I have options that are immediately available.

I don’t need motivation to exercise either. I just go. I don’t give it space in my head. I have a plan, I write it down and if it says that I am running/crossfitting that day, well that’s what I’m doing. I do it when I feel like it. I do it when I don’t feel like it. I do it when I’m looking forward to it. And I do it when I’m dreading it. Because it all leads me to exactly the same place. The place where I say, wow I am so glad I did that today.

I do believe in inspiration though. That first spark that says even though I’m completely out of shape I could do that. Inspiration becomes a goal. A goal will put fire in your belly when you are doing hard workouts. A goal will help you make decisions easily. For example is this cookie ice cream deliciousness congruent with my goal? (Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.) If my goal is to run 5 kilometres in under 25 minutes then I don’t hesitate when it comes to running gruelling intervals. Because that is what is going to get me from Point A to Point B. I believe great inspiration will push you to believe that you can. And if you can see it, you can do it.

I believe in inspiration. I believe in a community of expectation. I believe in being part of a team. But motivation? It’s a waste of your time. Because you already have everything you need.

Rachel’s Race Report

OperationMove · October 24, 2014 · 4 Comments

The weekend before last I travelled from Brisbane down to Melbourne to do the 10k event at the Melbourne Marathon Festival. I was a little nervous but mostly excited because not only was I going to run in Melbourne I was going to meet a number of the Operation Move team in person for the first time.

I originally signed up for the MMF last year and was going to do the half marathon with a few of the other Operation Movers. It was going to be our first half marathon. However early this year I injured my ankle and knowing I needed to train for the half and I hadn’t run / walked more than 5k before I started to panic about it. My mental health takes priority so I decided to take that pressure off and switch to the 10k. At the time I was going to be doing it on my own but that didn’t matter – my main reason for going to Melbourne was to meet people, to meet the team.

As it turned out another couple of people injured themselves in the months leading up to the MMF and also switched to the 10k. So instead of doing the run by myself I got to spend that 10k with a couple of absolutely wonderful women – thank you Jo and Kate! One of my team mates on the run was still nursing a knee injury and so we ended up walking about 7k of the distance but we stuck together and I know I had a better time than I would have if I’d decided to take off and run by myself.

One of the advantages of us doing the 10k was that we could then be at the finish line for the half marathon and cheer on the lovely ladies doing that event. It was fantastic – so exciting looking out for your team and cheering their hard work and achievement. Then we headed over to the marathon finish line to look out for our marathon women. It was amazing when we saw them – I cannot imagine running for that amount of time and we all cheered so loudly for them. I had to head off to my hotel soon after they crossed the finish line and as I was saying goodbye and hugging everyone there may have been a few happy emo tears shed.

Thank you Operation Move for not only an amazing weekend but for getting me to the point where I have now completed 2 x 10k events and started thinking that a half marathon is achievable.

9 Ways to Injury-Proof Your Running

OperationMove · October 8, 2014 · 2 Comments

Injuries are pretty much runners worst nightmare. A runner, not running is liable to be cranky, irrational, edgy and yell at you for how you are chewing your food. It’s not pretty. And frankly, everyone suffers under such a burden.

Now sometimes injuries are unpreventable. It’s just a random thing. You know where most accidents happen? In the home. You are far more likely to injure yourself in your own house than when you are out on a run. But regardless, the point is not everything is preventable, but some things are. And instead of spending 4 weeks rehabbing an injury or even 6 months here are some things that you can do to help make sure you aren’t sidelined with an injury or if you are, it’s not for too long.

1. Running Form

In my opinion a huge amount of injuries are caused from poor running technique. Specifically, over-striding. There is a tendency to do this on faster runs. So train yourself to continue to use the same short stride you would on an easy run for your speedwork. Your feet should be striking the ground underneath your body – not in front of you.

2. Training Load

There are a few aspects of training load that can see you heading down injury lane. One is increasing your distance too quickly. If you are building up your distance you want to do that slowly. While you are building, every 4 weeks or so you also want to have a lighter week to help your body recover. But the other more important aspect of training load is the mix of high intensity/medium intensity and low intensity runs on your schedule. The temptation is to think ‘oh well I’m only running x amount per week so therefore I can skip some of the easy runs and just focus on the tempo and intervals’ But in my opinion that’s a fast track to injury town. Instead you want to focus on your maximum intensity runs being only 10% of your total running. So if I usually run 60km in a week, then the maximum amount of time in that week I should be spending on intervals is 6km.

3. Cross Training

There are plenty of ways in which cross training can not only benefit your running, but also help you to stay healthy. For example, a huge problem in runners is inactive glutes. Things like CrossFit or Cycling are great at really working some of those under-worked muscles and keeping you injury free. It also gives you an activity to keep you moving while resting the muscles that you use for running. An all round win.

But really, what I think is the huge benefit of cross training is that when things go pear shaped and you do get injured, you have a back up plan to keep you moving. Which is so important for your mental health as well as your physical health.

4. Rest

You can’t skip it. Most people when they start exercising would need at least 2-3 full complete days of rest, and even once you’ve built up your fitness you still need 1-2. A huge amount of the work is done by you taking your rest days. It’s not just to allow your body time to repair but it’s also so you go into your workouts rested and able to give it your best.

5. Know Thyself

Some days you know that you just need to get out there. And some days you really need to listen to your body. Working that out takes some time. But eventually you get really good at it. The other morning I was going to skip crossfit because I was still a bit sore and the Melbourne Marathon was in ten days so I thought I will just take it easy. I went for a run that was really slow to nurse my sore muscles through it. But I felt so good afterwards I was thinking I could definitely go to crossfit! Be wary of that! Endorphins have a way of lying to you. And then as I was going back I could feel how twingy my quads were and there was NO WAY going to Crossfit was a good idea. So I stayed home.

6. Speed. Don’t Waste It.

Do your easy runs SLOW. Slower than you think you should. Save your speed for your tempo and your intervals. Do not waste that effort on your long runs or your easy runs. And it is a waste. That kind of middle of the road speed is not fast enough to benefit your fitness and it’s not slow enough to benefit your fitness either. It’s training in the grey zone. And you want to avoid that.

More importantly, you want to get some distance in your legs with the least risk of injury or impact to your body. So do it slow.

7. Make Adjustments

Everyone is different. I like to do a recovery run after a long run but for plenty of people that’s a fast track to injury. You need to listen to your body and make adjustments as to what works for you. Your ideal might be running 5 days or it might be running 3. It might be doing no speedwork at all. Or it might be doing medium runs instead of long runs.

8. Listen to Your Coach

LISTEN. When they say take it easy. Take it easy. When they say go to the physio. GO. When they express concerns about something, LISTEN. Because it’s usually coming from experience.

9. Prevention is Better Than Rehab

I’ve been injured and had to rehab and retrain and it basically sucks. So a big part of my job is to make sure that doesn’t happen to other people. It’s a whole lot easier to nip something in the bud before it turns into something major. Now, I know that going to Doctors or Physios is inconvenient and sometimes expensive and usually if it’s something you can avoid you will but the sooner you go, the less likely you are to spend the next six months going to the physio.