Your Ideal Life and Exercise

Ok, so I am one of those people who enjoys a bit of motivational rah rah. Yep, I listen to this style of podcasts, love an inspiring auto/biography and have been to more than a few success and motivational conferences.

Late in 2019, I was listening to a podcast Rich Roll https://www.richroll.com/ was doing with this amazing runner, Dean Karnazes (who FYI is 57 years old). Amongst other amazing feats, this guy had competed in and completed a running race from Athens to Sparta in Greece. 250km in 36 hours or less! It retraces the journey of Pheidippides, an ancient ‘day runner’ (that was his job) who ran from Athens to Sparta to enlist the help of the Spartans (think Sparta 300) to help save Greece and Western Civilisation from the invading Persians. Here is a link to the video of the race, called the Spartathlon – it is simply awesome (if you like a bit of motivation….) https://www.spartathlon.gr/en

Anyway, I digress. In this podcast, Dean suggests you write down on paper what your ideal life looks like. From the small things to the big things. Now, I had done this before and don’t mind an exercise like this, so I got to it. I find it always insightful to do this every few years and to see what has changed in what you believe is your ‘ideal life’.

One of the things I listed in my ideal life was to have the ability to train twice a day, six days per week. Perhaps the second session each day would be light, and the sessions would be a mix up. Boxing, running, hiking, stretching/yoga, cycling, gym, body weight exercises, maybe even a swim!

With a young family, a business, a fairly extensive work travel schedule, and training once a day, training twice a day seemed an absolute luxury.

Suddenly, I found myself working from home (like those in society that were able to), with a stop to non-essential travel. This suddenly had opened the opportunity for training twice a day. Who would have thought such a time could fast-track an aspect of my ideal life!?

But of course, training twice a day can come with it the increased risk of injury. So, I have to be sure to warm up, warm down and mix up training.

So if you find during this time of isolation, you put pen to paper on your ideal life, come up with training more than you currently do as a goal, and have increased time to train and exercise more, be sure to mix it up. Use it as an opportunity for taking your physical and mental health and well being to a higher level.

And if you need help in getting yourself ready to go, or keeping injury free along the journey, consult with your local Physiotherapist and/or Exercise Physiologist, to work with you along the way.