Ep. #406:The Rules of Fitness Don’t Work for Us. So Let’s Break Them.

Welcome to the Not Your Average Runner podcast. I’m Jill Angie, a certified running coach, and your running BFF here to help you start running. Feel confident and love the journey no matter your size. Now, if you’ve ever felt like you just weren’t meant to be a runner, think again. I believe that running is for all bodies, even yours.

This podcast is your warmup buddy, giving you tips, motivation, and the support you need to lace up and get moving. I’ve helped thousands of women become runners, and now I wanna help you. Let’s go.

Hey friends, and welcome back to not your average runner. I’m feeling feisty today. My friends, I just watched that expose on The Biggest Loser that’s on Netflix, and I have some opinions and I, well, I’ve, I’ve had my issues with that show for many years. I used to watch it. Relentlessly when it was first out and then I got kind of pissed off and angry and I stopped watching it.

And of course since then, more stuff has come out about how the contestants were treated. And, and of course the, the expose and the documentary on Netflix just sort of confirmed that and, uh, and even delve deeper. And it was, I dunno, just made me angry to see how. How blase everybody was on the staff about what the contestants were going through and the trauma that some of them are still living with.

So at some point, I probably will do a whole episode about it. But I need to gather my thoughts before I just go off ranting. So instead, today we’re just gonna talk about the general bone. I have to pick with the fitness industry and here is what it is. So for decades, right, we have been handed this rule book on how to exercise and it’s rules like no pain, no gain, or never miss a Monday.

30 minutes of cardio is the minimum to get any heart healthy benefits, right. Honestly, most of these rules are kind of bullshit and they really don’t work for women in midlife. So today we’re gonna talk about why those rules were not designed with us in mind, how they’ve been used against us, and what happens when we toss them in the trash.

And of course, stick around till the end because. As I’ve been promising for weeks, I really do have something amazing and exciting coming next week. It is called the Midlife Movement Makeover. It’s my brand new program. It’s all about rewriting the rule book on your terms, but I’ll tell you about that at the end.

So first of all, where did these rules come from? Well, a lot of them were created, shall we say, decades ago during the bodybuilding craze. And they were made by and for young men who were trying to build muscle and demonstrate the muscles on a stage right to, to really, um. They, they’re more designed around aesthetics and not health, and a lot of the folks following these rules were also on steroids and doing other kinds of things that were really not a great idea.

But basically a lot of our fitness rules, they come from that bodybuilding sort of gym bro. Uh. You know, belief system and then the diet industry picked them up and weaponized them against women. So instead of us moving our bodies because it feels good or because it helps us age and and feel strong as we age, we’ve been conditioned to view exercise as a punishment or a penance or something that we have to do to feel like we are.

Good people. You know, it is, it’s, it’s been turned into this kind of like moral, ethical thing almost. And instead of like something that helps us feel good and respect our bodies, a great example of this is no pain, no gain. Now, that was never meant to apply to the average 50-year-old woman who just wants to feel good in her body.

Pain is a warning sign, my friends. But when you are told that pain means progress. You ignore the signals your body is sending you and this other one that I hear all the time. I see it constantly on Instagram and it’s never miss a Monday. Like, you know what, you can miss a fucking Monday if you want to.

It’s this like sort of rigid. Belief that you have to do it a certain way and you have to be, be militant and super hyper disciplined in how you approach fitness or you’re not doing it right and that’s a lie. So following these rules actually holds us back. A lot of us, I mean, some people I, I do think thrive maybe on that sort of mindset, but I think those folks are in the minority.

Following these rules harms us, first of all, when we can’t follow them perfectly, which we can’t because they’re unrealistic. We feel shame and we feel guilt. And when we feel shame and guilt, what are we likely to do? Quit. And then there’s more shame and guilt. Um, we get injured from over training, pushing harder than our bodies are ready for not listening to the signals of our bodies.

Uh, we get burned out because the rules demand intensity instead of sustainability. Like that fucking 75 hard program that is such bullshit. Oh my God, I, I should do a whole podcast on that. But really, like, there are so many programs out there that have you pushing really hard for a short period of time to get quick results, but they’re unsustainable.

And even if you manage to make it all the way through the program, you’re either halfway injured or you’re burned out, or it’s not sustainable, and so you end up kind of quitting and losing all of your results. It’s not cool. I don’t like it. Um, and then we have the, the whole stop start, start, stop, start, stop cycle.

If I could say that. Um, where you do it right for a while, then life happens and you miss a workout, and then you’re off the wagon and then you have to get back on track. Right. And we keep saying, if I could just get back on track, everything would be fine. And you’re not a train. There is no track. Say it with me.

You’re not a train. You don’t need to get back on track, right? You get to just live your life and figure out how to fit your workouts in, in a way that makes sense for you. The thing is, these rules are really designed to make you feel like a failure, so that you will keep buying new programs and memberships or diets so that you keep.

Failing and looking for the next thing that’s going to make you succeed. And these folks are profiting from your shame and that is just gross. So let’s talk about what happens when we break the rules, when we start doing things in a way that makes sense for us. ’cause this is where the magic happens. So let’s take running, for example, the rule book says that real runners don’t walk.

Well, guess what? Every single marathon in the world has finishers, who used walk breaks. Walking is a tool. It is not cheating. Another so-called rule is that you gotta work out for at least 30 minutes for it to count, for it to give you any benefits for your heart. And okay, maybe there are some studies that show you get more benefits if you work out for at least 30 minutes, but your body doesn’t have a timer.

It’s total nonsense, right? 10 minutes of dancing in your kitchen is gonna give you some physical benefits. It’s gonna give you some mental benefits. It’s gonna boost your energy. It counts. I don’t care if like. The scientists say that it has to be at least 30 minutes. Does that mean it’s not worth it to do 10 minutes?

No, it’s not. I mean, yes it is. No, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. I’m so mad about all of this. I can’t even speak. Right? 10 minutes counts, five minutes counts. Your body wants to move and giving it even a little bit of movement. Is powerful and meaningful. Okay, let’s see, what else? Oh, this, another one.

Another one that makes me crazy, especially because I do like to lift heavy weights, but also this belief that the only way to get stronger is to lift heavy weights is bullshit. Your body doesn’t care if it’s a barbell or a resistance band or your body weight. Hey, if you’re plus size like me, your body weight is a heavy weight.

Your body responds to the effort and increases its strength accordingly. So if you can’t lift heavy weights or you just don’t want to, that’s fine. There’s plenty of other ways to create resistance and build strength. So, so let’s just throw out that whole, you gotta lift heavy to get strong. Okay, now.

Now the cool thing is that when you give yourself permission to ditch the rules. Do things like building walk breaks into your running or finding a different way to do strength training that works for you. You give yourself the chance to actually do something that benefits you, and the reason it benefits you is because you’re able to stick with it.

You open the door to consistency, and consistency is the real game changer. So let’s talk about making new rules that actually work for you. And when I say you, I mean the midlife woman with aches and pains and a body that has hormones that are all over the place. And maybe your body looks different than it did when you were 20, and you have a life that is full of caretaking and work and all kinds of stuff.

So let’s talk about that. The first one I wanna share with you is consistency over intensity. Consistency is the real game changer in your fitness. Five minutes every day beats one brutal 60 minute workout every week for real, five minutes a day, consistently showing up every day Beats one workout a week where you beat the crap outta yourself and you’re sore for days afterwards.

Support over punishment. Movement should make your life easier and not harder. So think about walking to clear your mind, stretching to relieve stress running because it makes you feel free and powerful. None of those things are about punishing yourself, about being rigidly disciplined. It’s about supporting the life that you want to have.

Movement should make your life easier and not harder. Flexibility over rigidity. Life is messy. Friends, kids get sick, jobs run late, sleep gets interrupted, weather happens. All the things. Real fitness plans bend. They don’t break. If your fitness plan requires everything in your life to go exactly right so that you can execute it, that is not a fitness plan.

That is. A pipe dream. So you gotta build flexibility into your life. And finally, how it feels is so much more important than how it looks. Your body is not a before and after picture. It is a living, breathing. Badass vehicle that deserves respect and it is going to look different at every point in your life.

There is no after. I hate this concept of like, well, this is my before and this is my after, because it implies that like once you hit that after, you’re just gonna be static for the rest of your life and no, like you’re after picture is a moment in time, and then there’s the after, the after and the after.

The after the after, right. Your body is. An ongoing thing and, and it is, uh, I hate using the term work in progress. ’cause again, that implies that there is an end point, right? You are living your life. How you feel is so much more important than how you body looks. Okay? Alright. Here’s the thing. In midlife, our bodies change.

This is a hard thing to swallow. I, it has been for me. I, you know, I’m 57, I’m gonna be 58 in a couple months, and my body is a lot different than it was when it was 30. And, and it’s taken a lot of thinking about what is important to me and is it important to me to starve myself so I can fit into the clothes that I used to wear 30 years ago.

No. No, it’s not right. Bodies change hormones. Shift energy isn’t what it used to be. Recovery takes longer. Okay. Alright. This is the new reality and following the rules that were designed for a 25-year-old Jim Bro, isn’t what my body needs right now. But that doesn’t mean that we give up, right? It just means we get smarter.

We choose movement that helps us stay strong, realistically into our fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond. We do not need to train like Instagram influencers. We need to train like women who wanna feel good in their own skin for the rest of their lives. So if you’re listening to this and you’re nodding along thinking, Jill, Jill, yes, I am done with the rules.

I’m ready for something different. You’re gonna love what’s coming. Next week, I have created a brand new program called the Midlife Movement Makeover. It is a 30 day reset design specifically for women in midlife. Who want to start over, but they’re tired of starting over and failing and starting over and failing.

Alright. This is no gimmicks, no guilt trips, no shoulds, just simple doable movement strategies that fit into your life right now and help you stay consistent for the long haul. There’s actually no running in this program. This. Like right back to basics, what is going to help you create a movement strategy that works for you.

So if you have ever felt like exercise is one more thing on your to-do list that you are failing at, because either you can’t follow the rules or whatever this program, the Midlife movement makeover is your permission slip to break up with all that. And finally, find a rhythm that works for you. All right, it drops next week.

For real. I know last week I said it would drop this week, life happened. I like to be flexible. So we’re gonna do it next week. Make sure you’re following me on Instagram at not your average runner. ’cause you really don’t wanna miss this. It is gonna be a game changer for so many of you. All right, my friends, here’s your assignment for this week.

I want you to pick one fitness rule that you have been trying to follow. Unsuccessfully and break it on purpose. Skip the Monday workout and do it on Tuesday. Walk during your run. Lift soup cans instead of dumbbells. Right? Skip your regular cardio class and just dance around your living room. Whatever feels fun and freeing, and notice how good it feels to take the power back.

Okay? The rules don’t work for us, so we’re gonna make new ones. Let’s. Fucking go. All right my friend. I will talk to you next week. Have a good one, and I’ll see you then.

Real quick before you go, I’ve got a fun challenge for you. Take my exerciser personality quiz to find out exactly what kind of exerciser you are and how to make running feel easier and more enjoyable.

Just head over to not your average runner.com/quiz to take it and get your results. That’s not your average runner.com/quiz.