Fitness Can Happen Anywhere. Even Outside of the Gym.
By Dan Galanto, Author of A Big Distraction,
Fitness centers have always been a place to implement movements in a measurable way.
We track our cardiovascular activity with treadmill speed, grade, and time. We measure our resistance training with a variety of pre-weighted dumbbells, for reps, tempos, and structured rest periods. We can gauge intensity by respiratory rate, heart rate, and somewhat subjective perceived exertion scale. We log distances, volumes, sleep patterns, and meals.
All this to take a structured and regimented approach to get to our fitness goals. If we happen to not get to our goals, we can go back and reassess something that we’ve done since we have such a detailed record of it.
Not a bad plan. Personal trainers build their careers off of building structured programs to do just this: to show objective improvements over time. It is common sense that if you want to improve, you must take a rigid approach. This is just how you do it. But why?
“This precedent of needing to train objectively implies that the tracked improvements overtime should be enough to keep you motivated. ”
This precedent of needing to train objectively implies that the tracked improvements overtime should be enough to keep you motivated. If you’ve ran five more miles this week than last, then that’s an improvement and should be exciting! If you’re able to lift 40lbs for three more reps than last time, again, improvement and, again, excitement! This is excellent but there are more options at our disposal to maintain motivation than these incremental changes over time.
Activities outside the gym are excellent ways to find a renewed sense of self-efficacy.
These are activities that may not necessarily be easy to measure progress with, such as playing a team sport like volleyball or hiking a mountain, but they are nonetheless equally as effective at getting you to your goals (goal dependent, obviously). Just because you can’t or don’t measure it, doesn’t mean it’s worthless.
“Just because you can’t or don’t measure it, doesn’t mean it’s worthless. ”
Learning a new skill, no matter how obscure, may also lead you to feel as accomplished, if not more so than if you were able to lift that extra five pounds. (1)
Although not commonly found in gym settings, balance boards, climbing walls, slacklines, roller skating, obstacle course races, and more have been shown to be incredibly powerful in both burning calories, developing new skills, and most importantly, showing you just how capable you are physically and mentally. (2)
Unfortunately, fitness culture suggests that if you’re not hitting the gym, your activity may not be as efficient as it can be.
Luckily recent trends are debunking this suggestion. There is evidence to support performing the same activity outdoors is more likely to increase perceived energy levels than performing it indoors. (3)
You may not be measuring your activity as you would in the gym, but the better you feel, the more likely you are to continue your healthy behaviors and reach your goals! (4)
There may also be a perception that if you’re using equipment that isn’t normally found in gyms, that activity is “weird” and “taboo”. Performing weird activities like handstands or juggling, may not be super common, but if the outcome is enough for you to feel better about what you’re capable of and performed safely, then why does it matter?
The take-home message here is if it’s safe and you enjoy it, pursue it. Too often do we get bombarded by the “don’t this that, do this” mindset of fitness coaches and it leads us to believe there is a specific path that you need to follow to hit your goals. When in reality, there are 1,000 different specific paths you can choose. The goal is to find what path you like the best, even if that means jumping from path to path now and again. Have confidence in your own passion!
REFERENCES
Wendy M. Rodgers, Craig R. Hall, Chris M. Blanchard, Edward McAuley & Krista J. Munroe (2002) Task and Scheduling Self-efficacy as Predictors of Exercise Behavior, Psychology & Health, 17:4, 405-416
Rodriguez, A. (2015). Psychosocial Motivators for Obstacle Course Racing: A Qualitative Case Study.
Plante, T. G., Cage, C., Clements, S., & Stover, A. (2006). Psychological benefits of exercise paired with virtual reality: Outdoor exercise energizes whereas indoor virtual exercise relaxes. International Journal of Stress Management, 13(1), 108–117.
Kelly, S. A., Melnyk, B. M., Jacobson, D. L., & O'Haver, J. A. (2011). Correlates among healthy lifestyle cognitive beliefs, healthy lifestyle choices, social support, and healthy behaviors in adolescents: implications for behavioral change strategies and future research. Journal of pediatric health care, 25(4), 216-223.
Dan is a current epidemiologist, ACSM CPT workshop instructor, author of A Big Distraction, and has held various fitness certificates dating back to 2007. Currently, he is a certified exercise physiologist (EP-C) through ACSM with the Exercise is Medicine credential. Dan’s professional emphasis is disease prevention through exercise and self-efficacy.
To promote this stance, Dan started a Youtube Channel to teach people how to do something they may have never thought they could do and answer fitness questions that are commonly asked.