Happy New Year! :)
It's been far too long since I updated my blog, so I thought I would kick off 2016 with a new post to my blog. The Wonders of Walking.
The last couple of months have been a bit crazy leading up to Christmas and I've been very busy with work trying to get some projects finished before year end (so no time for blogging). One of them down in London, meaning daily commutes down to the City for a couple of weeks in December which was quite depressing in general. I'm not a huge fan of London, actually, I generally hate the place! But.....the time spent commuting did allow me to reflect and realise........
Firstly, how very blessed and fortunate I am to be based and working from home. I have worked from home for over 12 years now (when not travelling around), so I am pretty used to it and it's easy to forget, but commuting down to London in peak times for 5 days in a week really reminded me how lucky I am to not have to do that sort of thing every week of the year like many people do. At least 3 hours of my day was just spent travelling, or even more while waiting at the station for my train......wow! What a waste of time.......but actually, not entirely wasted!......as secondly, I came to the realisation that I just don't walk enough!!!!
While commuting to London, I was walking from my home to the station in Rugby and then from Euston to my customer in Harley Street and the same back again. In total I was walking just over 3 miles each day as part of my commute......how awesome! I was also using stairs and not the lift to get to the 5th floor of the building I was working in. I was amazed at how many able bodied people took the lift up just 2 or 3 floors!! I was considered crazy for walking up all the stairs (wtf is the matter with people, it's free fitness. I even ran them once bottom to top, but then I got collared for a chat at the top and had to catch my breath first! So I didn't do that again!) But anyway....while I wasn't keen on the commute and being in London, I loved the opportunity for walking and it was great to stretch the legs and have a good brisk walk every day. I literally haven't walked that far for years!!
So then I started thinking about how much walking I do generally in my life, on a daily or weekly basis when I don't have to commute to London......and it's not a lot! None in fact. I never just go out for a walk. I will happily go for a swim (I did this morning before work), I will go for a bike ride, I might even go for a run (not recently), or have a gym workout......but, when do I ever just go out for a walk? ..........I don't! Until now that is!!
I don't just mean walking to get somewhere either, like town or the shops, or the pub, I mean just going for a walk for no other purpose than getting out in the fresh air, wind and rain (whatever) and stretching out the legs. So, I have come to the conclusion that I should walk more and my plan from now on is intentional daily walking! It's a not a New Year's resolution or any of that unsustainable bullshit, it's an attempt to form a new life habit, or a 'G-Habit' - but more on G-Habits another time, perhaps my next blog.
My plan is to walk at least 1 k/m a day, over lunch time, or before work, or even just to get away from the desk mid morning or afternoon. Maybe I could walk twice a day....wild! But whatever, I will be walking a lot more from now on! And not a meandering stroll either, a good brisk paced walk! Just to be clear, the walking is not to replace any type of other exercise, swimming and cycling or even running for example, it is just to supplement it and if I don't get chance to swim or cycle one week, no bother, I'll have got plenty of exercise from my daily walks. Or that is the plan anyway, to make it a habit.
But why am I deciding to prioritise my walking, over say other forms of exercise? Well, quite simply, it is how we evolved and what our bodies are designed to do. Plus, it is really rather good for you! Just Google 'the benefits of walking'. So it just seems a bit rude and stupid to not take advantage of this wonderful ability we evolved to have. Also consider that not everyone is blessed with the ability to walk, so don't take it for granted! Use it....don't loose it and go for a deliberate and intentional walk!
If you have a dog, you probably already have this one covered though! ;-) At least I hope you do or you are a terrible dog owner!
Finally, I would also like to thank Keith Nickless for the additional and final inspiration for adopting my new life habit. After undergoing back surgery earlier this year to relive the pressure/pain from a herniated disc, having been laid up in bed totally immobile for 10 days and stretchered to hospital in an ambulance, Keith is now fully recovered from the surgery and the back pain is gone, this was just 3 months ago. Guess what his post surgery recovery consisted of, apart from not sitting down too much.....you guessed it.....walking. Taking intentional daily walks! Lots of walking. Cutting grass as well I believe, but of course, that's still walking. He looks great, feels great, has lost loads of weight and his consultant is amazed at his post surgery recovery. What more convincing do you need??..............so go on.......go for a walk! Enjoy! :)
#TheWondersOfWalking
#ThePowerOfPosture
It's been far too long since I updated my blog, so I thought I would kick off 2016 with a new post to my blog. The Wonders of Walking.
The last couple of months have been a bit crazy leading up to Christmas and I've been very busy with work trying to get some projects finished before year end (so no time for blogging). One of them down in London, meaning daily commutes down to the City for a couple of weeks in December which was quite depressing in general. I'm not a huge fan of London, actually, I generally hate the place! But.....the time spent commuting did allow me to reflect and realise........
Firstly, how very blessed and fortunate I am to be based and working from home. I have worked from home for over 12 years now (when not travelling around), so I am pretty used to it and it's easy to forget, but commuting down to London in peak times for 5 days in a week really reminded me how lucky I am to not have to do that sort of thing every week of the year like many people do. At least 3 hours of my day was just spent travelling, or even more while waiting at the station for my train......wow! What a waste of time.......but actually, not entirely wasted!......as secondly, I came to the realisation that I just don't walk enough!!!!
While commuting to London, I was walking from my home to the station in Rugby and then from Euston to my customer in Harley Street and the same back again. In total I was walking just over 3 miles each day as part of my commute......how awesome! I was also using stairs and not the lift to get to the 5th floor of the building I was working in. I was amazed at how many able bodied people took the lift up just 2 or 3 floors!! I was considered crazy for walking up all the stairs (wtf is the matter with people, it's free fitness. I even ran them once bottom to top, but then I got collared for a chat at the top and had to catch my breath first! So I didn't do that again!) But anyway....while I wasn't keen on the commute and being in London, I loved the opportunity for walking and it was great to stretch the legs and have a good brisk walk every day. I literally haven't walked that far for years!!
So then I started thinking about how much walking I do generally in my life, on a daily or weekly basis when I don't have to commute to London......and it's not a lot! None in fact. I never just go out for a walk. I will happily go for a swim (I did this morning before work), I will go for a bike ride, I might even go for a run (not recently), or have a gym workout......but, when do I ever just go out for a walk? ..........I don't! Until now that is!!
I don't just mean walking to get somewhere either, like town or the shops, or the pub, I mean just going for a walk for no other purpose than getting out in the fresh air, wind and rain (whatever) and stretching out the legs. So, I have come to the conclusion that I should walk more and my plan from now on is intentional daily walking! It's a not a New Year's resolution or any of that unsustainable bullshit, it's an attempt to form a new life habit, or a 'G-Habit' - but more on G-Habits another time, perhaps my next blog.
My plan is to walk at least 1 k/m a day, over lunch time, or before work, or even just to get away from the desk mid morning or afternoon. Maybe I could walk twice a day....wild! But whatever, I will be walking a lot more from now on! And not a meandering stroll either, a good brisk paced walk! Just to be clear, the walking is not to replace any type of other exercise, swimming and cycling or even running for example, it is just to supplement it and if I don't get chance to swim or cycle one week, no bother, I'll have got plenty of exercise from my daily walks. Or that is the plan anyway, to make it a habit.
But why am I deciding to prioritise my walking, over say other forms of exercise? Well, quite simply, it is how we evolved and what our bodies are designed to do. Plus, it is really rather good for you! Just Google 'the benefits of walking'. So it just seems a bit rude and stupid to not take advantage of this wonderful ability we evolved to have. Also consider that not everyone is blessed with the ability to walk, so don't take it for granted! Use it....don't loose it and go for a deliberate and intentional walk!
If you have a dog, you probably already have this one covered though! ;-) At least I hope you do or you are a terrible dog owner!
Finally, I would also like to thank Keith Nickless for the additional and final inspiration for adopting my new life habit. After undergoing back surgery earlier this year to relive the pressure/pain from a herniated disc, having been laid up in bed totally immobile for 10 days and stretchered to hospital in an ambulance, Keith is now fully recovered from the surgery and the back pain is gone, this was just 3 months ago. Guess what his post surgery recovery consisted of, apart from not sitting down too much.....you guessed it.....walking. Taking intentional daily walks! Lots of walking. Cutting grass as well I believe, but of course, that's still walking. He looks great, feels great, has lost loads of weight and his consultant is amazed at his post surgery recovery. What more convincing do you need??..............so go on.......go for a walk! Enjoy! :)
#TheWondersOfWalking
#ThePowerOfPosture
