Does this sound like you?
You know how important it is to exercise. But scheduling the time (and finding the willpower) to go to the gym consistently sometimes feels overwhelming. It’s one more thing on the to do list and often just doesn’t get done.
I’m here to remind you that ANY movement is better than no movement.
You can start small and then build on that. What if you just add three new things into your daily routine right now? Pick your three:
- Park on the far side of the parking lot when you go to the store.
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator to your office.
- While you brush your teeth, practice some squats.
- Do some stretches in front of the TV instead of just sitting on the couch.
- Take a break in the middle of your workday to walk around your building, walk up and down a few flights of stairs, or do some lunges.
The trick is to find little things that are easy to incorporate into your day and don’t require a lot of effort. It’s going to be much easier for you to take a few minutes several times throughout the day to get moving than it is to block out a whole hour for a class or gym session.
Whatever exercises you come up with, make it a habit. Commit to something small and do it everyday for a week then add to it.
Remember, every major change starts with baby steps!
If we want to detoxify the body (and mind!) we must exercise. Moving the body encourages breathing, circulation, and sweating, all of which speed up the detoxification process.
Specifically, exercising:
- Flushes out the lungs.
- Opens up the sweat glands and promotes perspiration.
- Circulates blood and lymph, allowing certain organs to cleanse these fluids.
- Jump-starts the kidneys, which filter toxins, when you drink water.
- Improves digestion and bowel movements.
What are the best exercises for detoxification?
If you want to take it to the next level and detoxify your body through exercise, you want to get your breathing going and your heart pumping. All you need is 30 minutes a day, a few times a week.
Here are some workouts you can try:
Rebounding.
If you’ve never heard of rebounding, it’s simply bouncing on a mini trampoline. It’s a great exercise for detoxing because it stimulates the lymphatic system. Consider putting a rebounder in your office or family room to make it easy and accessible.
According to naturopathic doctor Bruce Fife, when you bounce up and down, your body tissues and fluids are compressed and decompressed. Lymph fluid is pushed throughout the body, and toxins are squeezed out of your cells and tissues and flushed out.
Yoga.
Certain yoga poses stimulate your lymphatic, circulatory, and digestive systems, helping your body remove toxins. For example, sage twist pose squeezes the abdominal organs and stimulates the kidney and liver, thus promoting digestion and removing waste from the body. Inversions like shoulder stand pose drain accumulated lymph fluid from the lower and upper body. Toxins are flushed toward the heart, where they are oxygenated and cleansed.
And because yoga is calming and centering, it can also help with mental and emotional detoxing.
Qigong.
Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice that aims to restore the flow of qi or life energy in the body. Through breathing techniques and slow, deliberate movements, qigong can help eliminate the toxins that cause physical and mental illness.
Qigong is good for detoxing because it assists the body in cleansing the lymphatic system and metabolizing oxygen more effectively. In addition, breathing techniques increase oxygen in the body. The extra oxygen binds with free radicals and neutralizes them, thereby preventing sickness.
Strength Training.
When you do weight bearing exercises, you replace fat with muscle and stress with strength. This helps decrease inflammation and excess fat in the body which enhances the body to do what it is meant to do — protect us at all cost.
Cardio.
There’s lots of cardio exercises to choose from; fast walking, running, cycling, rowing, and swimming — just to name a few.
Why do we need to incorporate cardio workouts? Cardio exercise is important for us because it:
- Improves cardiovascular health. Aerobic exercise is recommended by the American Heart Association and by most doctors to people with, or at risk for, heart disease.
- Lowers blood pressure. Cardiovascular exercise may help you manage symptoms of high blood pressure. …
- Helps regulate blood sugar. …
- Reduces asthma symptoms. …
- Reduces chronic pain. …
- Get’s our happy juices flowing (overall it increases our dopamine and serotonin that gives us a sense of calm for better night sleep and even just mood elevation.
Almost any form of physical activity will help your body detoxify and reduce anxiety, including walking, bicycling, running, and dancing. At the end of the day, the exercise that you’re most likely to stick to is the one that you enjoy, so find what you like doing and do that.
Need some workout suggestions? Hop over here and let’s get moving.
Xo,
Christine