Life Kit - There's More To Getting In Shape Than How You Look

Episode Date: September 14, 2021

Exercise is important, but balancing exercise with mental health and your own body confidence can be a tricky thing to pull off.In this episode, we talk to experts about how to keep comfortable in your body as it changes, and how to find that balance while exercising.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This is NPR's Life Kit. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Like a lot of folks, I started working out a bunch during the pandemic. I'm talking like real jock stuff, you know, like swinging and cleaning and pressing hunks of metal. And I started noticing my body change, which was kind of cool. I'd never lifted weights before, so this was new to me. But then I started noticing myself noticing my body more often. You know, suddenly the ever-changing glob of skin and bones that I was seeing in the mirror wasn't changing enough to my liking. You know, my traps weren't big enough, my core not toned enough. Turns out a lot of people were also feeling the same way, according to Ornella Carraza, professor of addictive behavior at the University of

Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. There was indeed a greater anxiety about body image during the lockdown. Karaz has been part of a growing body of research showing a serious growth, not just in body image anxiety, but also... Exercise, addiction, and also the use of image and performance-enhancing drugs. Of course, exercise is important, but balancing exercise with mental health and your own body confidence can be a tricky thing to pull off, which is exactly what we'll be covering on this episode of Life Kit, how to keep comfortable with your body even as it changes.

Before opening up a CrossFit gym and becoming the head of fitness at Reebok, Maylard Howell had another life. Those 11 years in the pharmaceutical industry showed me how important quality of life was. He sold insulin, saw patients with end-stage renal failure as a result of diabetes, and thought, something is wrong. It's a shame that late 50s, mid-50s, people are passing from lifestyle-related diseases here in the most developed nation in the world. Instead of tackling problems at the back end with medicine, he wanted to take a more holistic approach to health, one that helped address problems before they became problems. And that perspective has shaped

how he approaches his fitness philosophy, focusing on people's quality of life, how they are able to live day to day. He wasn't always like this. In his 20s, he was definitely trying to get shredded. I know you said when you were in your 20s, you were thinking that way about aesthetics, right? Is there even anything like wrong with that? Like, is that inherently bad? No, there isn't anything inherently bad with it. I use this term a lot. I tell clients, I'm like, look, I'm here to make you feel better, move better and look better, you know, but the look better comes last, in my opinion. You know, I think the first thing is you have to feel better. I want people to leave that 6am class, that 7am class and be like, tag, I feel really good. Like I can take my day on. Well, you know, I didn't really want to do

that, but I did it. And my endorphins are charging and I just feel really good about myself. And that's why I'm so passionate about what I do. When it comes to balancing exercise with mental health and body confidence, our first takeaway is to figure out why you're working out. There's a ton of research out there on how exercise is great for your physical and mental health. Maillard makes his why about quality of life. I don't sell you, hey, you're going to be the most ripped person on the beach.

I don't sell you that you're going to go to the CrossFit games. I'm not selling you that you're going to, you know, bench press a thousand pounds or whatever. None of the above. I'm selling you that, hey, you're going to be able to play with your kids without getting out of breath, you know, on the weekends. I'm selling you to prepare for life. And not just physically, but it's a mental journey as well.

It's an emotional journey as well. And those are skills that can be transferred over to when you walk into your office at work, when you walk into your home with your relationship with your partner, your spouse, your kids, any of the above. I told Maylord that bit about me noticing myself more often. There is a level of self-confidence and a level of self-esteem that comes with working out and comes with fitness and comes with, oh man, I, you know, I couldn't do A a month ago. Now I can do A and B or whatever the case might be. But we just have to be aware of it trending a little too extreme, just like with anything else in life. Ornella Carraza, the researcher from before, says that seeing fitness as purely a means to get more attractive,

whatever that even means, can lead people to compulsive exercise, disordered eating, depression, and performance-enhancing drugs. We need to remember that we not only have a body, but we are our body. The body is not a machine, you know, and has its needs, you know. We need to get in touch with feelings, with sensation, emotion of our body, asking ourselves how we feel. By the way, there are a few other episodes of Life Kit on understanding the science behind

weight loss and how healthy bodies don't look like any one thing. Because people can often get caught up in arbitrary measurements, whether that's something like BMI, which Maillard calls obsolete to aesthetics. Maillard says there's a reason why look good is at the bottom of his list of priorities. Weird nutritional habits and stuff start sneaking in when you start focusing on primarily the look good. bottom of his list of priorities. What those extremes look like can be different for different people, which is our second takeaway. Check in on yourself for some signs you might be slipping into an unhealthy mindset. Is that fine if the person skips a few days at the gym? Or does the person get anxious because the person wants to go to the gym, feel the need to go back to the gym? Does the person feel any kind of withdrawal symptom because can't exercise,

for instance? Is exercise really having an impact on the life, on the personal life of this person? Are you repeatedly canceling plans with friends and family, prioritizing exercise instead? Do you feel the need to hide the amount you're working out? Is your workout routine impacting your sleeping habits in a non-productive way? It's kind of a complex scenario, but you know, it can become problematic. I personally think it's very important to detect the early signs of difficulties before waiting to have a serious condition. But those seem to be pretty normal things if you like play sports, right? Or if you're training for something, right? If you're training for like a goal,

those just seem part and parcel with it. So if you have to do those things anyway to hit your goals, how do you know when you're crossing a boundary? So I really think the the key question is who is in control are you in control of your life or is certain kind of behavioral things controlling you yes so for instance i had an interview a while ago we were discussing some results about professional athletes so they need to exercise every day in order to become the number one to get the gold medal so the question was so are they all addicted to exercise in this case the journalist asked me and I said no you're missing the point we are talking about professionals if they want they can't stop doing it you know it's not something that they need uh is controlling their life but they are in control

of their life it's their job it's their activity so the control is with them and not with the behavior and of course there's all the body image issues that come with scrolling through instagram and seeing all your hot friends and all the hot famous people and all the hot influencers i think people who get involved in fitness and fitness culture, it's very easy to start like following certain accounts on Instagram and then comparing yourself, right? Like I think, I think we all have a certain media literacy to know that like, I'm never going to get as big as like The Rock, right? That's not, I'm like, I have a job. I can't spend all day doing shit. Correct, correct. But like, but if I I see peers of mine that are getting somewhat athletic, right?

I start having to chase that goal. And I wonder, is that something you've seen? And is there a way to get out of it? You know, we live in a social media world, right? And even myself, I do get caught up. And this social media thing is so ego driven and it's so look at me look at me look at me look at me it's not going anywhere you know just keep it just keeps evolving i think you have to be self-aware and be able to at points say you know

what yes i'm going to engage in some of this, but I'm not going to let it control me or I'm going to be aware that, you know what? I need to step back a bit. That's our third takeaway. Try not to compare yourself or your progress with others. We're all built different. We all live different lifestyles.

Comparison is a thief of joy. Don't compare. Please don't get caught up in social media. Focus on you. Focus on your self-confidence. Focus on your journey. It goes back again to what I just said. We all have different levers, different lengths, different dimensions, all of the above. We all do different things for a living. I don't have any kids. I got a pesky little dog. You might have four or five kids at home. You know, there's so many variables. So stop comparing. The rock has a personal chef, crying out loud, you know?

Just for example, nothing against the rock. Love you. You can also, of course, just stop following them, but that's a whole different Life Kit episode. So you found your why, and you've been mindful about your emotional and mental needs on top of your physical ones. Next, figure out how to move your body that

doesn't feel like a total chore to you. That's our fourth takeaway. Maybe you're into doing circuits or lifting weights. Maybe you hate the idea of going to a gym and would rather hit up a spin class or yoga. Or maybe the idea of exercise for exercise sake doesn't work for you, so try more recreational stuff like rock climbing or hiking or boxing. Places often offer free trials, so take advantage of them and get a sense of the vibe. Find a fitness facility that resonates with you. I tell people a lot of the times, come take a free class, get a vibe for the coaches, the type of coaching that we do. See if it resonates with you. And then you know what? Go to the zip code over, go to the next gym and take their class as well. Do that for the next month. Take four free intro classes. And at the end of the

four weeks, make your decision. And when you do find your thing, remember, it doesn't have to leave you absolutely wrecked for its account. Research shows that just a little bit goes a long way. Just like with anything, there should be balance. I think the fitness world coupled with social media, suddenly there's this, you know, you got to go till you die kind of deal. And it's not sustainable. Consistency is key here. We're looking for long term benefits, but it can be hard to stay motivated. Maillard recommends figuring out something concrete and specific to work towards. That's our fifth and final takeaway. You should be tackling some sort of movement goal, some sort of fitness goal, whatever it is, and start building on that habit today. Your goal should challenge you to get to a better place than you are now, but it's important to set realistic and achievable goals.

Having one can also help keep some of the mental health stuff we talked about earlier in check. But setting the goal might be tricky. You could work with your doctor to help find one. Don't be afraid to ask your physician or your primary care doctor questions. Hey, what does this mean? Okay, well, I understand what it means academically, but how does it mean and how does it relate to my day-to-day?

And how does my day-to-day affect it? What should I be doing to affect it? And don't put all your focus on weight. There are other important numbers to ask your doctor about too. Resting heart rate, blood pressure, what your step count should be. That starts to plant the seed in people's heads. Like, oh snap, I didn't know that. Maybe I could pick a goal that revolves around that,

that can help contribute to my overall wellness and well-being and fitness level. Once you've set your goal, Maillard says he likes to reverse engineer them. So say you want to run that 5K turkey trot without stopping or deadlift your body weight or hit some step number. Figure out when you want to hit that goal by and work backwards from there. And having these small steps can help you motivate towards the bigger picture. You can always come up with 101 excuses why you shouldn't be, why you can't. It's super easy to just roll with the cans.

It's super easy. But if you focus on that three-month goal, you'll realize that today's important. It doesn't have to be a big thing. Just go in the general, vague direction of the goal, the three-month goal. And trust me, it will help. Any little thing helps, even on days when you're just not up for it. Can't run your miles? Go for a short walk. Feeling sore? Do some stretching. I know what I do today is going to have an effect. No matter how tiny it is,

that drop in the pan today is going to help that three-month goal. And that's what keeps me focused. So take it day by day. Be mindful that your fitness journey isn't just a physical one, but a mental and emotional one as well. To recap, takeaway one, find your why. Maillard recommends making your why about quality of life. Takeaway two, keep an eye on your behaviors for any indications you might be veering into unhealthy territory. Takeaway three, try not to compare yourself or your progress to others. Takeaway four, find your how.

What kind of exercise do you enjoy? Takeaway five, set a goal. It helps to have something concrete to work towards and then work backwards from there. For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. We've got one on how to have a healthier relationship with social media and another on how to eat healthy on a budget. You can find those at npr.org slash life kit. And if you love Life Kit and want more, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org slash Life Kit newsletter. And now a completely random tip, this time from listener Rachel Pashas. So the key to being able to use white strips without being a drooling fool is to put a mouth guard in the bottom of your mouth, and that will make it a lot better. If you've got a good tip, leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823,

or email us a voice memo at lifekit at npr.org. This episode was produced by Audrey Nguyen with help from our summer intern, David West Jr. It was fact-checked by Janae Woo Jung Lee. Megan Cain is the managing producer. She also edited this episode. Beth Donovan is the senior editor. Our production team also includes Andy Tegel, Claire Marie Schneider, and special thanks to Maria Godoy and Heather Hausenblas. Our digital editors are Beck Harlan and Wynne Davis. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Thanks for listening.