“Bad Exercise” is a myth.
Why is it that you’re forever seeing people demonise certain types of exercise or exercises online?
Well, the reason is that they have probably grown their platform through extreme, scaremongering and often false tactics.
Shock sells… just look at the news!
Unfortunately, it’s a lot harder to find people providing reasonable, balanced, and evidence-based advice.
One of the things that I often get asked in the clinic is, “Is *insert any type of exercise of your choice in here* good for me?”
Well, the answer to that is, “It depends.”
The “best” exercise is the one that can be done.
It’s the one that you enjoy, the one you can do with a friend or your family, the one that has a class at a time that works for you, the one that can be done in 30 minutes etc.
You’re essentially looking for the type of exercise that has the path of least resistance to getting done.
For example, for a single parent of two, a round of golf twice a week probably isn’t the most time-efficient way of exercising if they have access to a gym attached to their office at work.
When I’m trying to get people to increase their exercise routine, we work together to find the thing that is going to be easiest for them to stick to.
It’s also important that we don’t set expectations too high initially.
We have to account for time available in the week, what people’s training history is like leading up to that point, and how they’re going to feel afterward (delayed onset of muscle soreness or DOMS is likely to happen).
Obviously, there are times when certain exercises won’t be appropriate for people.
If someone has significant knee arthritis and hasn’t run for 30 years, then running probably isn’t going to be the best place to start.
Of course, there are going to be types of exercise that we’re not conditioned for yet, and this is where it’s important to get guidance from a professional to find out what would be suitable for you at a given time with your training history.
Keep an eye out for anyone who tells you any type of exercise is “bad” 👀.
These are the things I consider when working with someone to increase their exercise routine:
- Do you enjoy it?
- Will you tolerate it?
- How long do you have available to commit to it?
- What provision do you have for it?
- Can we realistically build it into your week?
- What would you benefit from the most?
Whilst I don’t agree with all of their methods all the time, big props to the practitioners below in the physiotherapy, health, and performance industry who continue to debunk myths and challenge some of these charlatans with their platforms:
If you’re in pain and want help getting back to exercise then give us a shout.
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