Unhelpful rules around exercise

As the days gradually start to get longer and we dare to dream of summer months ahead, we can find ourselves becoming more aware of our bodies. As we think about shedding our winter woolies, we might become conscious of our body being visible in a new way. Or we may find ourselves hit with the urge to get back to the gym or restart the Couch to 5k, conscious of a looming annual pressure to be ‘beach body ready’.

Putting aside the (false!) assumption that we should be doing anything to change our bodies - ever, but particularly in response to the fabricated idea of a ‘beach body’ - let’s acknowledge that for many of us the relationship we have with moving our bodies is deeply rooted in diet culture and riddled with unhelpful rules.

All children are born with an innate desire to move their bodies and most enjoy the freedom of running in the park, swinging from the monkey bars or scrambling up a tree. But before long this natural capacity is corralled by the education system - movement is presented as formal, competitive sport or exercise. We are taught that there’s a ‘right’ way to move your body. Other destructive messages might include ‘only certain body types can do certain things’ and ‘winning is paramount’ - unless you excel there’s no point.

And these messages continue throughout our lifetimes. If you grew up in the ‘80s or ‘90s, for example, you’re likely to have internalised the message that movement should be vigorous (step aerobics anyone?!) and mantras like ‘no pain no gain’ normalised excessive exercise, disconnected from the body’s limits. Furthermore the conditional assumption that moving one’s body is solely for tangible gain has left many of us with the unhelpful rule: ‘unless this exercise is helping me lose weight/tone/sculpt my body, then what’s the point?!’.

As in other areas of our life, unhelpful rules around exercise often include restrictive and stereo-typed gender norms. As women, for example, we are constantly fed a narrative that happy and successful womanhood should include moving our bodies and in certain, acceptable-looking ways. For example, happy mums go to yoga; successful business women go to HIIT classes; pretty and nice little girls go to ballet.

In more recent years, the wellness industry has shifted the narrative around exercise, promoting the idea of exercising for one’s mental health. Although in a general sense most would agree that there are benefits to mental health from moving the body, such as improving the quality of your sleep, boosting your mood and reducing stress. However, this doesn’t mean that ‘exercising for mental health’ is helpful for every unique individual, nor that we’ve escaped the unhelpful rules! We continue to be bombarded with idealised images of what ‘exercising for your mental health’ looks like, such as svelte women in Pilates gear or the invigorated cold water swimmer. This perpetuates the idea that certain types of movement are prized, or that attending to your mental health should look a certain way. Moreover, this shift in narrative is deeply rooted in healthism and able-body privilege - ‘I *should* exercise for my mental health (and if I don’t I’m failing at my individual and moral responsibility to look after my wellbeing)’. Furthermore, we can end up entangled by rules - ‘I know I *should* be exercising for my mental health, but honestly I can’t shift the idea that unless I’m losing weight it’s not worth it’.

So how do we move beyond unhelpful rules surrounding physical movement?

At Breaking The Rules we promote a rule-free approach to living. This allows us to consider ‘what do I actually need or want?’ And ‘what does my own, unique body need or want today?’ If we were to put aside the unhelpful  assumptions and expectations about what we ‘should’ be doing, what do we know about what brings us pleasure? What genuinely has a positive impact on our mental health? This might be moving our body in some way… or it might not!

If you are keen on physical movement, what other benefits could you derive from moving your body if you weren’t focussed on losing weight or meeting some other expectation? How might it feel to learn a new skill, for example, in trying something totally new? Perhaps something you’d always fancied but assumed ‘wasn’t for you’. How would you feel about the social connection gained in joining a class? Sharing a laugh with other women on a netball pitch, for example.

At Breaking The Rules we acknowledge that whilst there may be general guidelines relating to the health benefits of regularly moving your body, of greater importance is considering ‘how does this apply to me in my unique body and circumstances?’.