Have you ever had trouble staying consistent with exercise?
You know what I mean — You start out with enthusiasm to run, bike, lift weights or whatever you intend to do — and over time, the motivation wanes and life takes over — with more and more reasons to put it off until later, until you’re left wondering — “what happened?”
I believe it’s not just a matter of discipline or willpower.
I believe the reason so many of us struggle with keeping up with our physical fitness is because there is a fundamental mismatch between what drives us psychologically and what we engage in for exercise.
In part, the definition of exercise is an activity that is repeated over and over until the targeted muscles are fatigued— causing the muscles to get stronger.
Running and walking are repetitions of steps
Biking — the repetition of pedaling
Weight lifting often requires repeated sets of lifting heavy things
Aerobics, yoga, pilates - they all follow this structure.
But psychologically, with repetition, we run the risk of losing meaning.
There’s a well known exercise in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) that helps people reframe how they relate to stressful thoughts and feelings.
Often referred to as “The Milk Exercise” because it was studied and developed with the word “milk”…
Words carry associations and meanings. But if you repeat the word over and over in quick succession an interesting thing happens… The meaning tends to fade into the background and the word becomes just a string of incoherent sounds. The word is pulled out from its context.
This can be really beneficial if you get hooked by thoughts of labels or judgements about yourself that keep you from engaging in what’s important to you.
For example: the word “stupid” might hold you back from sharing your ideas, or the word “lazy” might reinforce your tendency to procrastinate.
After practicing this exercise - many people find that the words don’t carry the charge they once did and then they feel more free to move forward.
What if the rote repetition of exercises is doing something similar? What if by doing the same motion or routine over and over we are unintentionally stripping it of the meaning it once had for us— and once we lose connection with meaning, it becomes harder and harder to motivate ourselves??
Let’s tease out this problem within the same example of language…
If you do the “milk exercise”, one consequence is you might notice the muscles of your mouth and jaw get really tired. That’s because it’s doing exactly what normal physical exercise does - repetition until fatigue.
However, many people can engage in long conversations or even give whole speeches — without any sensation of their mouth muscles being tired…
Why is that?
The key is variety.
In order to communicate, we use a large selection of words and each word requires a particular shape of the mouth and jaw muscles. The variety of shapes and sounds and volumes and tones not only creates the context for the words to help us communicate meaning, but each shape uses muscles differently and keeps those mouth/jaw muscles from getting overly tired.
Would choosing larger varieties of movements – like speaking a whole language instead of one word – keep us moving better, more effectively and even be more helpful in our adherence to exercise overall for our lifetimes?
The repetitive movements we do for exercise are also outside of their natural context:
Treadmills or stationary bikes pull the activities out of the context of travel
Weight lifting is out of context of carrying things for a purpose
Pull-ups are outside the context of actually climbing up or over something
Variety and context - in my opinion - are two key components that keep a movement practice alive and meaningful.
This is what I love about Mov Nat (aka Natural Movement training):
We practice a large variety of movements for the sake of developing skills within the context of our natural environment.
The question Mov Nat answers is: How can we become more effective and efficient in the movements required for navigating our world?
My Restorative Exercise practice also frames up exercise with its applicable context. It asks: What do I need to practice in order to balance both flexibility and strength for the purpose of moving well, with more efficiency and ease, in the activities of my life?
Some of what we do in my coaching programs is find Variation, Context, and Connection to Meaning— as means toward developing sustainable movement practices.
Book a Free Alignment Wayfinding Session to discuss where you’re stuck or struggling, and how we might work together to get you where you’d like to go.
All the best,
Patrick
P.S.: Reply here if you’d like me to send you a worksheet on how to use “the Milk Exercise”