Kellie and Claire kick off part one of a three part series on taking back control over things for which they DO have some agency as one year ends and a new one is about to begin. In Move More they discuss their personal evolution of exercise; they uncover their past and present motivations for staying active; and they sift through all of the varying reasons why physical fitness is one vital piece of the overall wellness puzzle in their lives.
Advice Not Given:
- Kellie starts off our discussion with the idea of the tension of the importance of exercise mixed with figuring out how we fit it into our busy lives. Movement helps with physical and mental health and yet it is difficult to make this a priority. How does the “fitness culture” help define our standard? What are our motivations?
- Kellie and Claire each share their own fitness journeys from childhood to adolescence through young adulthood to present day.
- Claire shares that since having kids she has struggled to find consistency to workout in one specific way. She has piecemealed together her fitness strategy. Kellie asks her what is it that motivates her to exercise anyway. For Claire it is for fresh air, a break out of the house, and a mental break; after 40 she’s been motivated by flexibility and mobility. Kellie says she is still searching for what her motivation is. When she was younger it was social. During her Crossfit years she enjoyed seeing progress and being able to eat what she wants to eat. Now she dreads her exercise but she does it for her quality of life.
- Claire offers that it feels incredibly indulgent to her as a mom to escape for two hours a day, 5-6 days a week to go exercise; to her it feels like an abandonment of her responsibilities. To her it feels like a luxury, but sees how Ryan, her husband does it. “You make time for what is important.”
- Kellie asks if Claire has ever run a marathon. She hasn’t run one but she did complete the Transmountain Half as a walker. Kellie shares about the Nine Enders study that relates people tend to sign up to do something physically ambitious when they are nearing the end of a decade. Kellie once ran the Army 10 Miler. She wonders if that’s why we have chosen this topic at the end of 2019.
- Kellie shares about how she feels self-conscious exercising with Andrew, her husband because of his elite level of fitness. They have had to disentangle themselves because of how he tries to coach her. Claire shares about a breakdown at the gym with Ryan about a year ago; there was a realization that they had moved so far apart in their physical fitness.
- Claire asks “As we age how are we looking a more gentle care for ourselves and how this is a motivator: peace, reprieve, and how do we figure out what kinds of exercise help get us to that destination. What am I searching for and how do I get there?”
- Kellie says the first step is to do a landscape analysis. What is available to you? What are the different modalities that you have access to at home, away from home? Figure what it is you are looking for. Movement is the baseline. Other than that is it community? Solitude? Headspace? Then figure out where those two things align.
- Kellie and Claire go down the rabbit trail of Cross fit culture and community. Kellie shares about a recent Crossfit
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/milspogurus)
