Mandate #11: Move Often

Beware the “athletic couch potato 🥔”

Which one of these four are you?

Which one of these four descriptions match your current lifestyle? Which do you think is the healthiest?

1. The Desk Jockey: drive to work then live the classic desk-bound lifestyle
2. The Athletic Couch Potato: crush your workout, then drive to work and desk jockey
3. The Gardener: not an “exerciser,” but always on the move and on your feet
4. The Ripped Gardener: crush your workout, then stay on the move throughout the day

Obviously the Ripped Gardener is the gold standard. But, if the Couch Potato has chiseled abs and never skips a workout, they must be healthier than the Gardener right? Here’s the plot twist:

The Gardener beats The Athletic Couch Potato. 

All that couch time overtakes fitness gains in the long run. The folks who train regularly but then spend most of the day sitting (the “sedentary athletes”) can show higher blood sugar, cholesterol, and fat storage than The Gardeners who simply move more throughout the day.

In other words, you can work out religiously, but if the rest of your day is motionless, your body still behaves like you’re sedentary. Blood slows, sugar builds, and fat stores increase all while you tell yourself you’re “active.”

You can’t out-train sitting all day.

Sprinkle It In

Movement doesn’t always have to be dramatic. It just has to be often.

Walk during calls. Do a few squats while the coffee brews. Stretch on the floor while you watch TV. Play with your kids, haul your groceries, stand up more than you sit down.

Every little burst keeps your body switched on: circulation flowing, metabolism firing, energy up. Plan for more than one dose of movement per day, and find ways to playfully sprinkle it in.

Move Often. Don’t be an “athletic couch potato.” A sedentary athlete. Train hard, but move through the day. Be The Ripped Gardener. Every extra step, stretch, reach, and play session keeps your body dialed between workouts.

Homework?

Starting TODAY, add one extra dose of movement each time your day goes still.

Ten squats before lunch, a stretch break, a walk during a call, anything that wakes your body up.

With you in it,
Amanda

If you’re in the Edmonton area and want a coach in your corner, you can reach out to work with me ​here​.

Bonus tip: Install movement distractions throughout your house. This hang board beckons us to use it every time we go down the stairs. We don’t schedule it in, it just happens because it’s right there!