At this evening’s meetup, Dan led a seminar on the basics of body movement.

The Foundation of Daily Movement

The foundation of basic body movement is to get 10k steps a day. If you don’t track your daily steps, this approximates to about 30 minutes of exercise a day. As a bare minimum of daily movement, this will help you feel better in your body and keep you healthy enough to participate in activities you enjoy.

Integrating basic movement into your daily routine can help you avoid injuries in common physical activities as well as help you avoid chronic illness that is associated with a sedentary lifestyle. Activities such as stretching and strength training promote healthy muscles, bones, and joints.

Ideally, strength training three times a week and elevating your heart rate with a cardio workout once a week serves as a solid foundation for a healthy exercise regimen. Of course, you can always integrate more movement into your life for increased results in performance and enjoyment. 😁

Making Time for Movement

For some, it can be difficult to commit to four or more workouts per week. There are many ways to work movement into your weekly schedule, even when you don’t have time to get to the gym four times a week.

When it comes to cardio, Dan recommends sex as one of his favorite ways to elevate his heart rate during the week. 😈

If you are really struggling to find the time to move, a goal that can help you meet the 10k step foundation of movement is walking for 10 minutes after every meal. If you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that totals 30 minutes in a day and roughly 10k steps. Be creative and find things that work with your lifestyle, and see what others are doing to work movement into their busy lives.

When meeting your activity goals gets tough, when even a 10 minute walk after lunch feels hard to commit to, remember your motivation–why are you trying to move more? If you are trying to cut a few pounds of fat, look good for that wedding in a couple months, or you want to take care of yourself like your parents and grandparents didn’t, remembering your ”why” will help you follow through on making movement a regular part of your routine.

More Movements to Do

Apart from these weekly foundational movements, Dan has a short list of important supplemental exercises that contribute to a well-rounded foundation of movement:

• Hanging (e.g. hanging from a pull-up bar)
• Going barefoot (e.g. running, walking, grounding)
• Getting close to the ground (e.g. sitting on the ground, floor-based exercises, stretching)
• Nose breathing exercises (e.g. it’s literally what it sounds like)

You may find that the occasional yoga flow is the perfect way to fit in all of these exercises. 😊

View the study guide for this activity here: