Famous Last Words: “30 minutes a day? That’s all?”
Why 30 Minutes of Exercise a Day?
Why challenge myself to 30 minutes of exercise a day? In short – Injury!
It all started last month as part of my ramping up for an enjoyable summer season of running. I didn’t see it coming and thought that I had done every ounce of prevention. Nevertheless, little did I know, that light twinge in my left hip right at the 8th kilometre of my last training effort, would set me back for over a month.
Injury for any runner is devastating. Approaching fitness as a runner means you are committing to the long game. You plan each week with a distance a bit longer than the one before, all in an effort to run comfortably at long distances with minimal effort. Normally, injury only sets me back a day or two. This time, my body decided it was time to teach me a lesson.
The longer my injury went on, the more apparent it had become that I needed a game plan. After several days camping out on my couch over Netflix, I could feel my level of fitness diminish. Each week that I did not move purposefully meant a massive setback when my body was ready to return to running. I decided to approach my fitness from the ground up – Create a fitness challenge that would both promote recovery, and preserve the cardiovascular advances I had built over the year.
Who Is This Challenge For?
The Finding My Psych 30 Minutes of Exercise a Day Fitness Challenge is for anyone who wants to jump start their wellness. Whether you are injured, wanting to maintain your cardiovascular health, or just getting started and need a place to start, this is the challenge for you. The only prerequisite is readiness. We also advise that you see your primary care provider to let them know what you are up to before getting started.
Challenge Rules
- Log 30 minutes of focused exercise every day for 30 days.
- Your time in the activity you choose must be purposeful. In other words, those steps you log at work don’t count.
- Choose and activity that feels comfortable but challenging. We suggest walking – You can quickly adapt to walking as a focused activity and make the activity more challenging by adding hills when you are ready.
- If you miss a day, do not double up the next. This is very important. The probability of injury happens when you increase any given effort too much before recovering from the previous.
Fitness Metrics
Each week, log your progress using the following health indicators:
- Overview – How are you feeling overall? What curve balls did the cosmos throw at you this week?
- Focused Activities – What focused activities did you participate in this week?
- Number Focused Effort Days (x/7) – How many days over the past week did you complete?
- Calories, Time, and/or Distance – Record details of your activities over the past week.
- Energy Level (1-10) – Record your overall physical energy throughout the week.
- Perceivable Weight Change – Do your clothes feel good on you?
- Anxiety Level (1-10) – Overall, rate your anxiety throughout the week.
- Motivation Level (1-10) – Overall, how motivated do you feel headed into the next week?
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Weekly Fitness Log
Week 1 – May 16th through May 22nd
Overview: This has been an amazing week. While my hip has given me some trouble, I think I am feeling better overall. Turning fifty comes with challenges. The misstep was not paying attention to stretching and increasing my klicks per week too much.
Focused Activities: This week I walked all seven days and ran on one of those days. For my walks, I threw in some hills on two of those days to challenge myself.
Number Focused Effort Days (x/7): I completed 7/7 days of activity with some days more challenging than others.
Calories, Time, and/or Distance:
- Calories – 3054
- Time – 6:13:07
- Distance – 33.10
Energy Level (1-10): My energy throughout the week was a 7/10. I noticed that I was not tired going into activity the next day.
Perceivable Weight Change: I perceive no overall changes to my weight.
Anxiety Level (1-10): My anxiety was a 2/10 for the week. But, I’m on vacation! 🙂
Motivation Level (1-10): I am very motived as I move into the next week – 9/10.
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Week 2 – May 23rd through May 29th
Overview: Great second week! I am back to work after some time off and was able to fit in a focused walk a few days in a row. Overall, I am feeling really good. I am not as sore as I would be if I ran every day. I have looked forward to each effort as well.
Focused Activities: This week I walked for all seven efforts. While I wanted to get a run in. However, my left hip and glutes (likely piriformis) have been nagging me a bit. I will have to continue to ease in. I made sure to get in some hills on my walks to increase effort.
Number Focused Effort Days (x/7): I got in a total of 7/7 activities this week.
Calories, Time, and/or Distance:
- Calories – 2834
- Time – 5:40:11
- Distance – 29.89
Energy Level (1-10): My energy throughout the week was a 7/10. I expect this to fall a bit as work will ramp up in the next month.
Perceivable Weight Changes: I have not noticed any weight changes with the exception that my pants fit a bit better.
Anxiety Level (1-10): My anxiety was a 3/10. While work has been busy, I experience less anxiety overall.
Motivation Level (1-10): Motivation is about an 8/10. I am half way through. That feels great! Work sucks so much out of me. That has the potential to decrease my motivation week to week. No issues thus far!
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Week 3 – May 30th through June 5th
Overview: It’s been a good week getting 30 minutes of exercise a day – Or most days that is. I broke into running after four weeks off with a hip injury. I was able to workout most days with walking efforts on my off days. The other benefit is that I am able to get in some low aerobic walking as in general I only focus on high aerobic actives such as running.
Focused Activities: I walked during my break at work during the day and got in some running early in the morning. I also got in one session of breath work through by Garmin Epic. Finally, I focused on standing up more at work as it is far too easy to sit all days with meetings and answering emails.
Number Focused Effort Days (x/7): I did a focused workout 5/7 days this week.
Calories, Time, and/or Distance:
- Calories – 1969
- Time – 3:07:35
- Distance – 18.68
Energy Level (1-10): My energy throughout the week was 7/10. I attribute this to not running as much and also improved cardio by staying active on a daily basis over few intense efforts spread out over the week.
Perceivable Weight Changes: As last week, my pants fit better. I have also not increased my calorie intake since implementing daily activity, thus at a bigger caloric deficit.
Anxiety Level (1-10): My anxiety has been 4/10. Work is busy all the time. Personal life is going well. I am also not drinking alcohol right now, a choice that I believe has massively impacted my anxiety level in a positive direction.
Motivation Level (1-10): Motivation sits at a 7/10. I am especially feeling motived to run more now that my injury is better. The trick is to do long walks on non-running days.
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Week 4 – June 6th through June 12th
Overview: It’s been a good week getting 30 minutes of exercise a day – Running has been going good as I continue to manage short-term injury. There is no doubt that my focus on daily exercise rather than peaks has improved my fitness.
Focused Activities: My fitness focus has been on walking and running. Walking is a great recovery activity. I feel physically and mentally boosted getting out there just 30 minutes a day. I think walking will be the solution moving forward for injury prevention as well.
Number Focused Effort Days (x/7): I did a focused workout 5/7 days this week. This included two walking days and three days dedicated to running. On the remaining two days, I made a point to park farther away from my office in order to add some motion to my day. While this was not a focused effort, it did assure I was not trying to slip past my 30 minutes off exercise per day goal.
Calories, Time, and/or Distance:
- Calories – 2512
- Time – 3:07:18
- Distance – 21.54
Energy Level (1-10): My energy throughout the week was 6/10. I attribute this to increased running throughout the week. Work has also been a bit stressful.
Anxiety Level (1-10): My anxiety has been 3/10. The more active I am, the less anxiety I feel. Part of this is due to improved sleep and having a focus that is entirely my own.
Motivation Level (1-10): Motivation sits at a 8/10. Being able to run again feels amazing. Walking has provided me the focus needed to slowly add back in running days. I notice that my body is holding me back way more an my cardiovascular system. This means that I am not losing a ton of fitness when cutting back on running – Walking is maintaining my gains.
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Review
My experience targeting 30 minutes of exercise per day revealed the importance of movement throughout the week. The biggest takeaway is the realization that rest days should include some form of movement, rather than the reward of the couch. While I did not walk every day outside of running, the benefits are nonetheless clear. It is very easy to fall into the, ‘work hard – play hard’ approach to fitness. Consistency is king. With just 30 minutes of exercise per day, I was able to maintain my cardiovascular gains even when injured. That is remarkable.
