Today we talked about the importance of loving our bodies and appreciating just how much they have served us over the years. I am so grateful to God for giving me a body that housed and fed my two beautiful children for a time and that keeps going even though at times I don't always treat it how I know I should.
Psalm 139 talks about how our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made and the more I learn about how the human body works the more I agree with this. I find that when my motivation to exercise is about caring for my future body for both myself and my family I tend to stick to things a lot more than if it’s just about how I look or how I think I look because the truth is I will never look like a
supermodel no matter what I do… in fact supermodels in real life don’t even look like the supermodels in the magazines.
Seeing as our bodies do so much for us it seems only right to give a little back basically so our bodies can keep doing what they were designed to do in serving us in so many ways.
One of the ways we can do this is through exercise or as I like to call it 'training for life'. I talked and demonstrated today a few exercises you can do at home and ways to fit exercise in when you have a young family.
I think a good place to start is do something you enjoy doing, that way you're more likely to stick to it. As exercise is designed to put stress on your body in order to adapt it you may not always like it but a bit of huff and puff can be good for us. It's important though to stop if you feel any pain especially chest pain or joint pain or if you feel unwell, dizzy or faint or have trouble breathing. Out of your comfort zone might be normal but pain and unwellness is not, this is especially important to note if you haven't done anything for a while. Take things slowly to start with but set yourself some goals, you're more likely to stick with it if you do. It could even be something like running for 10minutes without stopping, or swimming 12 laps of the pool, you'll feel great once you've achieved it and then you can move onto the next goal. Aim to do some cardio and some strength training every week. You can break it up 3 bouts of 10mins can be as good as 30mins in one go. And if all else fails snackercise.. 2 minutes worth of star jumps is better than nothing if that’s all you can manage for one day. The good news is housework can count to. Try doing squats when hanging out the washing instead of bending with your back. By the end of a few loads you would have done about 50 squats.. not a bad effort. Have fun and enjoy loving your bodies.
Please remember as I stated today I am not an expert. I have loads of passion, some knowledge and a little bit of experience so if you do have concerns about anything consult your doctor. Also I should mention too that you shouldn’t start anything new exercise wise if you are pregnant without discussing it with you LMC first.
"Thanks so much, Catherine, for the time you put into this talk today - we appreciate it!"
