Exercise: Purposeful Intelligent Movement

Category: Chiropractor in Melbourne

What is Exercise?

Exercise can be defined as a particular movement or series of movements, carried out to sustain or improve health, fitness and quality of life.  In practical terms, it includes your three Ts being your type, technique and timing, and most importantly why. Each of these elements are critical to your intended effectiveness, safely and net gain of your exercise pursuits.  Performed well you benefit, and performed poorly, you may do more harm than good.

What is the ‘Diskin Life’ approach to exercise?

At Diskin Life we value the significance of exercise performed as Purposeful Intelligent Movement.  The first step being answering the question of why.  What is your purpose and objective of doing the exercise in the first place?  Unfortunately there are people who do their exercises without giving this consideration.  They may take on a fad exercises, do some exercise they have heard its ‘good to do’, or one that looks cool.  Purposeful intelligent movement exercises are a necessary part of healthier living, which is why we have a dedicated our Move Better better stream of Discover Healthier Living presentations and workshops to show you the elemental concepts and strategies to guide and support you toward beneficial exercise outcomes.

What are the signs your exercise is harming you?

Any health practice can be misinterpreted or misused, resulting in unintended outcomes.  Eating too much of a particular food, substituting ingredients, lying in bed for too long, or doing an exercise the wrong way are examples of good intentions gone wrong.  If you are clear about why you are exercising, it should be equally clear when you don’t achieve your intended outcomes.  You should expect improvements based on your particular objectives.  Here are some common goals that are reasonable which you can expect: Improved balance, flexibility, fitness, endurance, wellbeing, energy, ease and strength.  In contrast, you know something is wrong when you develop lasting pain, fatigue, dizziness, anxiety, your immunity drops, your muscles and joints stiffen or tighten.

5 common misconceptions regarding exercise

Just because others are doing it, doesn’t make it right.  It’s the un-common sense approach.

1. More forced exertion creates better outcomes
Intelligent movement relies on careful considered efficient movements, as compared with brute force, which may actually create long term damage, wear and tear.

2. No pain, no gain
This old and outdated adage would have you believe that you have to ignore your body’s intelligent protective signals.  If you sense your body warning you, heed the feedback in context, to avoid unnecessary injuries and relapses.

3. Weight is the ultimate goal
Are you really concerned with how much you ‘weigh’, or by how you look and perform?  The scales may be a guide, yet not really a true objective as compared to your function and appearance.

4. As long as I go to the gym 30-45 minutes, that gives me a pass to do what I want for rest of the day.
This is one of the ultimate resource wasting ideas.  It’s like saying you can eat a lot of processed and junk food and then have to do some intense organ cleansing to compensate.  This type of extremism can stress and overload your body’s organ systems at both extremes unnecessarily.

5. The gym negates a bad diet.
Each health discipline has inherent value and is co-dependent on the others.  They each need to be cared for.  A good practice in one area does not compensate for a poor behaviour in another.

5 simple ways to improve your exercise activities

1.    Ask for help from your primary health practitioner, who unless they have a particular expertise with exercise, may refer you on to an expert who can further assist you to determine what is best for you.

2.    Enjoy the process by selecting a program that not only fulfils your why, you also enjoy it inherently for the process it is.  Doing it just because its ‘good for you’ will not likely breed longevity.

3.    Be regular, like your other heath practices.  Our body requires regular ongoing supportive practices, like sleep, eating and breathing. Nurture yourself with considered ongoing exercise at a pace that works for you.

4.    Variety adds to the spice of life.  Mix it up by modifying your movements, and changing your exercises to keep you interested, motivated, and to stretch your mind as well as your body.  If you have a personal trainer, they can help you; including moving in ways you are not used to create more options in your life.

5.    Have fun.  Use enjoyable music, play with balloons, and enjoy the company of others when possible.

Dr. Ari Diskin is a US trained Healthy Life Doctor of Chiropractic, with over 30 years professional experience, having cared for over 10,000 people.  He uses Network Care as part of his 3 Step Vitality Program, in Melbourne Australia.