Get Your Sweat On
To have the ability to move my body - to gently probe into its locked away places of rigidity and revel in its moments of power, resilience, strength and progression - is a gift for which I am profoundly grateful.
It’s also a practice that I like to mix up, depending on how my body is feeling, my mood, where I am in my menstrual cycle and what’s available to me, environmentally, physically and emotionally.
One of the commonly touted benefits of exercise is that it can somehow, of itself, “boost” your metabolism (a.k.a. energy expenditure). A 2012 study presents surprising evidence that this may simply not be true: when controlled for body mass, your metabolic rate remains the same despite differing activity levels (Pontzer et al., 2012).
In absolute terms of course, this means that you can healthily increase your daily rate of calorie burn if you manage to increase your fat-free mass i.e. lean muscle, all else being equal. Conversely, however, your overall metabolic rate slows as you lose fat through caloric deficit.
Simultaneously fascinatingly counter-intuitive and a bummer. Maybe we’ll explore the science in an article later.
What is clear though, is that regular exercise has health benefits way beyond its impact on any aesthetic goals we may have - in short, regular exercise helps us live, in better health, for longer (Warburton at al., 2006). And that, friends, is more than enough to get me moving.
As with any beneficial practice, having a toolkit of options to dive into can help to make a variety of movement a playful and intuitive part of our everyday lives. Here are some of mine.
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These are some of the programmes and resources that I use (or have used in the past) as well as the people I admire and take inspiration from in my own movement regimen.
I’d love to know who inspires you in the comments section below! G x
Centr
Centr has been my workout platform find of the COVID19 2020 lockdown (thanks to their 6-week free trial promotion that March - thanks Chris).
I love starting the week strength-training with Ashley Joi, getting into beast mode with Da Rulk (woof), tapping into my inner MMA gladiator with Tiff Hall and not minding feeling like an upended beetle while attempting pilates with Sylvia Roberts. The platform is slick a.f. and easy to use.
Instagram: @centr
Francheska fit
Good lord is this woman inspirationally agile and strong! And such a great communicator of proper form. Based in Austin, Texas and specialising in dynamic primal movement, her workouts are far more difficult than she makes them seem, but nevertheless leave you feeling panther-ish.
She has programmes and e-books for purchase and her instagram is a wealth of motivation.
Instagram: @francheskafit
Photo credit: @travisATXphoto
Kate Posch
Taking Kate’s yoga class is attending church.
Where church is movement as meditation with a dash of silliness and a complete lack of self-consciousness. A simultaneous letting go while finding where your body is in space.
Kate is the BEST yoga teacher I have ever had (and I try yoga classes pretty much anywhere I travel). Her classes are the perfect schmoosh of fun, epic soundtracks, playfulness, insane depth of anatomical knowledge and an absence of judgement. I miss her adjustments and laugh desperately. Thankfully, she’s on Zoom people.
Instagram: katiecocopuffs
P.Volve
Hear me out on this one. I know lots of you are super into the various barre classes out there but this P.Volve thing is pretty good.
I found it when I was injured (tweaked bicep) and couldn’t do my usual higher intensity workouts or yoga.
The instructors are very into good form (something I’m a stickler for too) and it is a low impact, highly toning option.
Instagram: @pvolve
Aaptiv
I don’t have this app anymore (I mean I can’t have all of them) but when I had access to a treadmill Aaptiv made my runs actually fun rather than a gerbil-fest. Aaptiv now offers more than just the running trainers whispering in your ear (they’re audio only), but that’s what I knew and loved. Highly recommended if you need help finding the pep in your running step.
Instagram: @aaptiv
Cass Olholm
Cass is someone I follow on instagram so that if I ever get to a Crossfit I might know something of what I’m supposed to be doing. I mean, if she isn’t a walking advertisement for high-intensity resistance training I don’t know who is. And she is a sweetheart, who deeply understands the human body and how to do the grrrr stuff safely.
She and her husband run a gym based in Canberra called The Ground and she’s just been picked up as a trainer for the Kayla Itsines’ Sweat app. A must follow.
Instagram: @cassolholm
References
Pontzer H, Raichlen DA, Wood BM, Mabulla AZP, Racette SB, et al. (2012) Hunter-Gatherer Energetics and Human Obesity. PLOS ONE 7(7): e40503. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040503
Warburton, D. E., Nicol, C. W., & Bredin, S. S. (2006). Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 174(6), 801–809. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.051351