What gets measured...

Living Well

Hang on a minute. Didn’t I literally just say (yesterday) that “everything counts”? So why would I write about the power of measurement? 

Everything does count. Every time you get up from your desk and walk around, take the stairs, get your heart rate up, for even 30 seconds… it’s all beneficial. It all counts.

AND something cool happens – for a lot of us – when you start counting. Or measuring to look at it another way.

When you start measuring physical activity – be it by minutes, number of days or reps, amount of weight, average pace or speed – you create a baseline of capacity. Humans are hardwired to improve. Having a baseline, creates a spring board. We want to do better. A little further, a little faster, a little longer. The feeling of progress is motivating.

The body and mind crave a real sense of purpose, forward momentum, and achievement. These things are vital. Especially right now. 

I want to insert my Inspiration of the Day here:

“…because knowledge work cannot be measured the way manual work can, one cannot tell a knowledge worker in a few simple words whether he is doing the right job and how well he is doing it.” – Peter Drucker

That’s the beauty, the power of exercise. It’s essentially manual work. It can be tough in many areas of life to effectively measure, manage, or deliver “progress”. With exercise, there are hundreds of different ways to quantify what you’re doing now. Create goals – minuscule to massive – and feel purposeful, progressive, and blissfully in control.

Let’s review a few ways to measure baselines and set goals:

Time:

I personally love minutes. I set goals for minutes of physical activity per week, and then look at my schedule for the week, determine the different activities that are realistic, enjoyable, and even “called for” on the various days, and then break up the weekly minutes goal into 5-7 into segments.  

Distance:

This is a great one for walkers, hikers, runners, cyclists, and swimmers. Determine the number of kilometres you want to cover in a given week. Divide it into segments. If you have an active commute – count it! Be prepared to go further on the weekend in case you didn’t have enough time during the week to get the planned mileage in.   

# of Exercises or Sets or Reps (or all three!):

For those of you sticking to your strength training routines, this is a great one: Determine the specific exercises you want to/need to do and then commit to a specific number of sets and a rep range. Don’t stop until you’ve completed all the rounds! When you’re pressed for time – incorporate a specific number of sets of my Back to Back exercises into windows throughout your day: after you brush your teeth, while the coffee is brewing, between conference calls, before your second cup of coffee, just before lunch, before you shut down your computer for the day…

# of Workouts:

This is my favourite when my schedule seems too crazy to bear. Your goal at the beginning of the week is simple: Determine a workout for every day of the week, and the time window for that workout. Then set a “bare-minimum” goal for how many of the workouts you are going to get it. Let’s pick 4. You then ensure you get at least 4 of those workouts in. You don’t worry about how long or how hard each one is, only that you GET THOSE 4 WORKOUTS IN (i.e., each one of them counts!).

Live Workout of the Day

Today we’ve got a couple of live workouts on the schedule.

MOBILITY & MUSCLE WITH LAUREN

Today, Lauren’s stepping in for Matt and bringing you your lunchtime pick-me-up! This workout will focus on the shoulder, hip, and ankle, moving you through a full range of motion. There will be additional stability work for the glutes and core included!

Recommended equipment: chair & pillow

Join Lauren at 12:00pm (35 minutes) from your own living room.

Click here to join the workout.

Meeting ID: 892 2779 8538
Password: 903005

ON CORE WITH GARTH

Garth’s back with another week of On Core, where you’ll challenge your core and stabilize your trunk in just 30 minutes!

Recommended equipment: light/medium dumbbell or weighted object (water bottle, book, etc.)

Join Garth at 5:30pm (30 minutes) from your own living room.

Click here to join the workout.

Meeting ID: 868 1155 7138
Password: 998132

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Click here to review this week’s schedule.

If you have any questions about our virtual live workouts, please reach out to Lauren.

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Do you have a “Something of the Day” you’d like us to share?! Email Meg.