The Best Workout

By Kelly Clark / Exercise

What’s the best workout on the planet?
It gives results I never thought possible
The best workout is backed up by Woody Allen’s Secret to Success

In a previous post I wrote about exercise and all the things I used to do wrong.

It included flush-inducing details about my decade-long love affair with my Nordic Track and how I finally learned how to make exercise easy. (N.B. The Nordic Track was never the problem. It was everything else I was doing, including exercising too much.)

So I wanted to follow up with a little more information about what I’m doing right. I wanted to tell you a little bit about the best exercise routine on the planet!

More about the best workout

I’ve been a healthy weight since 1999. Doing the best workout has kept me trim and toned.

But before you commit to reading the rest of this post, let’s measure up the best way to get fit.

Are there results: Check!
Is it easy: Check!
Is it free: Check!

… Are you interested? If that’s a check, read on.

The best workout is the one you like to do.

It’s that’s simple. If you find something that gets you moving three times a week for about 25 minutes, you’ve found the best way to exercise.

As Woody Allen said:

Showing up is eighty percent of life.

– New York Times, August 21, 1977

Once you understand that doing the best workout means finding something you enjoy doing, then you just need to have fun figuring it out.

Here’s some physical activities to try out:

Go to a friend’s gym as their guest
Run around your neighborhood
Walk a neighbor’s dog (or your own if you have one)
Be a sub for your friend’s soccer team
Bike to work (if it’s not too far and they have showers!)
Look for a coupon or Groupon for a local exercise class
Ask your (licensed) teenager, carpool colleague or friend to drop you off a mile from home, rather than right at your door, and walk the rest of the way

When I was studying overseas the best workout for me was walking. By then I’d wrecked both my knees from all the running I’d previously done. Placing one foot in front of the other at a decent pace (rather than pounding the pavement) was a great time to reflect, refocus, feel lucky to be able to move and take-in the sights, sounds and opportunities in a new city.

These days I don’t have access to a Nordic Track so the best workout for me is an elliptical machine three times a week for 25 minutes while holding 2 pound hand weights. On the elliptical machine I read a book or practice a presentation and I find the time just flies by.

Each exercise choice has been the best workout option for me at that time; each workout has given me the results I never thought possible over the 10 years I made losing weight complicated.

Trust yourself when finding the best workout

Take it from me – you can do the best exercise regime recommended by a magazine, trainer or any other fitness guru. But unless you are a body builder, training to be an Olympic athlete or are working toward running a marathon – they’ll never be a better workout than the one that works for you; the one you love to do! (Or like the most.)

Stop letting the world tell you what you need and start listening to yourself.

NOBODY knows you like you. So the only person who knows:

The best workout routine
The best workout time
The best workout equipment
The best workout music
The best workout cool down
The best workout water bottle
The best workout headphones
The best workout daydream
The best workout outfit
The best workout EVERYTHING …

Is you!

This advice doesn’t mean ignore music suggestions, equipment information or new cool down methods. Be open to them all! Try them out. Then decide how you feel.

I spent 10 years looking for complicated answers outside myself. I was surprised to find reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is all about going back to the basics; understanding what healthy eating and exercise looks like and then adapting your choices to discover what works for you.

Take time to try a variety of approaches to exercise. And don’t be afraid to alternate between choices you enjoy, and to experiment with new ways to move your body. It’s important to keep evolving.

In Summary

Do what you love to do 3 times a week, for around 25 minutes and you’ll find the best workout for you. Then you’ll being going above and beyond Woody’s tried and tested secret for success and have some fun while you’re at it.

The benefits of adding an active lifestyle
to your own version of: The Best Workout

It’s also important to weave activity into your everyday life.

Whether it’s joining a sports team, biking to the bank, walking to the post office (even if you drive half way!) or parking at the back of the grocery store instead of at the front.

One small improvement to what you’re already doing each day keeps you moving, gets you outside, clears your mind and helps you sleep better.

Do you have a story where ‘showing up was half the battle’? Was it showing up for school or work, or something else you’d like to share?