Exercise reframe

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Roy A. Ackerman, PhD, EA

We are obese.  No, not just Americans, but most of the “First World” nations’ citizens.  It’s not just because we eat those 942 calorie fast food sandwiches.  It’s because we have become sedentary.  Oh, let’s cut the crap- it’s because we’ve become lazy.  We don’t exercise.

What I just said is not new.  It’s not even news.   But, for some reason, we (that’s me AND you) are not responding to this message.   (The following are our beliefs; science is way more certain they are true.)  We know exercise is important.  We believe  that exercise can help us lose weight.  We are fairly certain that exercise can preclude heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stabilize our blood pressure, protect our bones…But, yet, still.. 2/3 of us still do not exercise regularly.

So, watch for a reframe.  Instead of our health experts telling us these facts, they will now stress another fact that folks seem to have forgotten.   Exercise maintains and augments our well-being and happiness.  Because, regardless of your position on Obamacare, if we don’t start exercising, our health care costs are going to keep escalating beyond our ability to pay.  And, our health care professionals have now determined that we won’t exercise if the results won’t be seen… TODAY!

So, they will be stressing the immediate results.  Not the benefits of exercise a year from now, a decade later, or in our senior years.    No, the reframe will stress and employ the emotional hooks, the links to today’s feelings, that will get us exercising the 150 minutes a week we need.  They (health professionals) believe that immediate rewards are all that works for today’s society, so they will stress the immediate benefits of exercise.  The previous framing made folks think exercise was a punishment for excess weight or the onset of diabetes.

It may not be a one-size-fits-all strategy though.  Hitting kids my son’s age means stressing the fact that one’s attractiveness to the opposite sex is enhanced by exercise.  (You know, that rugged, good lucks, the rosy cheeks, etc.).  My generation will still get the health spiel- but to exercise in groups, so that the community feelings that fade with age can be rekindled.  The key is to engender “loyalty”- there’s no benefit to exercising for 20 or 30 days and then quitting; we need to engender long-term habits.

There will be less stress on weight loss benefits from exercise.  Because data is showing that those of us who have been sedentary or obese for a while (ok, a l-o-n-g while) won’t show any results even after 90 day regimens.  Waistlines may shrink, but more importantly aerobic capacity increases, heart rate and blood pressure drops, and there’s tremendous mood enhancement.  (You may want to reread the post:  My body looks like I never exercise…)  So, by de-emphasizing the weight loss component aspects, health care professionals can get more of us to adhere to this new exercise regime- because the results of exercise will not rely on the (perhaps) futile attempt to manifest weight loss.  Instead, our happiness will be enhanced- immediate feedback that will enhance compliance with the exercise regime.

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10 thoughts on “Exercise reframe”

  1. It won’t happen unless people realize how important it is for them. What makes a difference is when we understand the importance and make it happen for us. We just can’t be blaming the 500 calories sandwich makers… we are the ones who actually went ahead and got it for ourselves!
    Hajra recently posted..Two years and many blogging mistakes later

  2. I think it’s going to be hard to get people exercising so long as that means doing activities that are considered unpleasant. Few I know enjoy going to the gym (personally, I like lifting weights but find aerobic equipment tedious), which seems to be the standard recommendation these days. There are lots of ways to get exercise while having fun. Skiing, gardening, hiking, etc. are some. Working on a farm doing just about anything gets the heart pumping and blood flowing. Most small farmers are short staffed and would enjoy the help – and be willing to pay a bit for a couple of hours a few days a week. Plus, you get the added feel good that comes with accomplishing a job and being around animals or nature. I think even if ‘happy’ is pitched as an immediate benefit, you’ll find more opting out if they don’t find something that doesn’t seem like work. It saddens me to see kids withdrawing to activities that exercise only their thumbs. Adults aren’t setting a very good example either, for the most part. Perhaps instead of focusing on ‘getting exercise’ the answer is to suggest recreation that’s healthy. Interestingly, I started galloping race horses over twenty years ago. What a workout that is! What surprised me is how much more energy and enthusiasm that gave me for the white collar tasks during the bulk of my day. It was a fun way to earn a good sum of money at what I termed ‘my paying health club.’ If people can find something they really like to do, the exercise becomes a perk – not the focus. That’s the only likely way to keep people involved in a long-term, sustained and effective routine for fitness and health, in my opinion.
    Nanette Levin recently posted..Marketing strategies are useless without people

    1. I think the reframe will work harder to show the mental benefits. And, yes, even if it feels onerous, if people feel the results- happier, less grouchy, etc- I think they’ll keep up the routine, Nanette…. We shall have to see what happens over the next three years.

  3. It’s all in the motivation. Consider that 80% or 90% (I forget the exact number) of heart attack victims are back to their own routines six months after the attack. Consider how people tone up and shape up (even subconsciously) when seeking a mate, then slowly “let themselves go” once a mate is secured; their motivation turns its attention to other priorities.

    Consider how I went on my longest workout tear when I gained 10 pounds in six months a few years ago…but since then I have been kicking my ass to keep on, to get back on, to eek out some fitness amid my other competing priorities. At least I have motivation, when I look at my dad withering away in his early 80’s, and meanwhile some guy became the oldest 46er in the Adirondacks at 82, hiking the same mountains I hike every summer.

    It’s all in the motivation.
    David Leonhardt recently posted..Are you an original blog writer?

    1. Absolutely, David…
      Which is why this campaign will probably include a few questions for us to consider, right after we do the exercise (and at the end of the day). So, we can readily recognize the changes that come from even one episode (dose?) of exercise.
      Thanks for reminding us of why we play yo-yo with exercise.

      Roy

  4. Do you think that will work for you? Have you made some kind of New Year’s Resolution? I have the stationary bike right behind the desk and I don’t use it. I hear 10 minutes 3 times a day is the same as 30 minutes. I could use some attitude adjusting. I refuse to diet. As soon as I think that I am, I start eating like a hog, oops, not kosher. Well humans aren’t, are we? Ann Mullen’s latest post for Sequoia Senior Solutions: What is In-Home Personal Care? at http://sequoiaseniorsolutions.com/index.php/about-us/sequoia-blog/927-what-is-in-home-personal-care
    Ann Mullen recently posted..Ann Mullen says:

    1. I have been doing exercise for some 5 years now. Not via a trainer- but I ride my bike for about 21 minutes a day (minimum). I sometimes (like when it rains) switch off to an elliptical trainer. I walk about a mile a day (Monday to Friday). I’m too old to do nothing, Ann!

  5. I think a lot of the problem is the way we think of exercise – as in hopping on gym equipment like your picture shows. Exercise can be as simple as going for a walk or playing a fun sport. We’ve made it way too complicated.

    I have trouble with it these days as I’ve fractured and broken the metatarsals in both of my feet several times. I actually left the Army due to my injuries and spent a couple of years in a wheelchair. These days I’ve found that it is getting more and more difficult to do anything that puts pressure on my feet (even walking) or that gets my heart rate up (the blood pools in my feet and they swell, even if it is an exercise that doesn’t use my feet). But I’m trying, again.
    Amethyst Mahoney recently posted..Last Day to Grow Your List

    1. Sounds to me that it’s time to take up swimming, Ame, which is probably among the best of all exercises, anyway…
      And, you are right. We think all exercise is via gym equipment or in a controlled environment.
      A pick up game of baseball, a brisk walk (https://www.adjuvancy.com/wordpress/http:/www.adjuvancy.com/wordpress/still-not-walking-your-brain-wants-you-to-cover-6-miles-every-week/) is very important- for maintaining our health, for maintaining our moods, and as the link says – for brain health, too!

      Thanks for bring up those salient points!

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