How to Know if Your Workout Routine is Healthy

Being physically active is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. There are several great benefits to your body, mind, long-term health, and longevity. Let’s name a few:

• Improved blood lipids - lower LDL, VLDL, total cholesterol & higher HDL (cardio-protective cholesterol)

• Improved bone density for prevention of osteoporosis and osteopenia

• Endorphins

• Stress relief

• Strengthened & lengthened muscles

• Increased flexibility

• Cardiovascular protection and strength

• Improved lung capacity and functioning

• Increased endurance and stamina

• Increased speed

• Hormone support

• Decreased risk of chronic illnesses and cancers

• Joint support

• Muscular integrity

• Improved posture

• Improved stability and balance

• Sense of accomplishment

• Increased energy, mental clarity & alertness

• Longevity of an active lifestyle

That’s a pretty great list. As great as it is though, there are times that exercise can be harmful to your body. The negatives aren’t quite as easy to talk about or accept- so let’s dive into it:

Baseline Appropriate Activity Check List

At a minimum, you should be able to say you’re well nourished, not having obsessive thoughts around exercise, & are using exercise to honor your body and improve your life overall and day-to-day. I encourage you to use the questions below to begin assessing your work out routine & exercise mentality.

1. Are you appropriately nourishing your body? Do you know what adequate nourishment looks like (at a minimum - 3 meals a day, likely a snack, eating all 5 food groups in balance and variety, hydrating)?

2. Are you having rigid or obsessive thoughts around exercise? What happens if your workout is unexpectedly disrupted? What happens if you skip a day? What happens is you don’t work out for long enough? What happens if you don’t sweat? What happens if you don’t burn a certain amount of calories? What happens if you can’t go as hard as you’d like to? Do you have grace with yourself? Does it still “count”?

3. Is your intention behind exercising today to honor your body or to punish it/change it?

4. Is exercising today going to enhance your life, add joy to your day, make you feel better? Or is it going to be overwhelming, draining, stress you out?

5. How are you coping with your life stressors? Are you turning to exercise almost all of the time or are you turning to exercise to relieve stress from almost all of your problems? What other coping mechanisms are you using to feel better?