Bring Back FUN in our Movement!

I recently heard Kelly Starett (Doctor of Physical Therapy, author, and Movement Coach) say that we've "sucked the fun out of the gym". I wanted to elaborate on that comment from my point of view, after a quarter century of working in the health and wellness industry.

It's All or Nothing

My clients reading this are probably saying, "here he goes again!", as their eyes roll... But they also don't disagree with me that the "All or Nothing Mentality" is everywhere! And here's another place where it is prominent:

In our exercise and physical activity.

Since it was brought to my attention in my Sleep, Stress Management & Recovery Coaching Certification (with Precision Nutrition), I can't UNSEE it. It is ABSOLUTELY all around us in our modern lifestyles in EVERY aspect of how we live our daily lives today. When it comes to the gym / fitness / movement, it is evident that THIS is how people (with good intentions) are approaching their lifestyle change efforts.

When someone signs up for the gym or hires a Personal Trainer/Coach, they go "all in" and have amazingly wonderful ambitions of "how things will be" - Until they realize the first tiny bit of resistance just threw them "off track" for the past 3-weeks. Suddenly, months have gone by and their credit card statement shows a monthly payment to the gym, that they haven't been to in months!

I JUST had a client recently say something that is the EXAMPLE of this. She's been struggling with consistency in her habits and can often get in her own way (self-admittedly). Within her plan this week, her TARGET was AT LEAST 1 set of each exercise in her routine at home. ONE set ... and UP TO 3 sets. She tracked the session in our app and commented saying she "only" got 2 sets in. "I was aiming for 3 sets, but didn't realize how challenging it would be". My comment was; "You hit your target!! Your target was ' push yourself to get 3-sets'. Your target was do AT LEAST 1-set. That's it!!! You DOUBLED that!!"

Again, there's the "all or nothing". This client is NOT regularly doing these things and the routine has her experiencing movements she hasn't done for a while. Rather than progressively building up, her mind (as with most people) goes immediately to the MAX, rather than ENOUGH and what feels DO-ABLE and GOOD.

When we show up to the gym, "Perfection" and the Internet Guide us

When we do get to the gym or to our movement programs, we go WELL BEYOND our desire, ability and often even comprehension because we feel we "should" or "have to" in order to create the changes we want. We push ourselves to the max NO MATTER WHAT because "it's in the program" or because we want to look good on our social media feeds (which also causes us to spend more time on our phone at the gym than actually tuning into our own physiology).

The idea of adjusting the load up or down, playing with a new exercise / movement for reasons of self-experimenting and fun or being okay with NOT doing something "perfectly" is completely foreign today! We're so worried about what "everyone else will think" or what we "should be doing" that it would be a "waste" to actually play/have fun in the gym right??

Allow Yourself to NOT Take Things so Serious all the Time!

I eluded to this in a post back in 2025. Let's face it, "adulting" is hard! Life is hard. And although we can argue why it's "harder today than ever before", the reality is LIFE has ALWAYS been hard. It's just hard in a different way now.

Since this is our reality, WHY do we continue to make our health habits HARD as well??? We are WAY more likely to do these habits/practices REGULARLY, when they are enjoyable, they make us smile from the inside out, they feel good (during and/or after), they GIVE us more life in our day.... Yet we continue to over-think, over-analyze, try to impress those around us, and aim for "perfection" (because otherwise it "doesn't count"). Sorry, but that sounds MISERABLE to me! And if something is/feels miserable, I'm NOT going to do it very often, that's a guarantee.

If we LET GO and ALLOW fun, "feel good vibes" and some natural flow into our health practices, we will be amazed at how seamlessly the habits form.

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In the podcast, Kelly Starett was discussing the wellness industry with Rich Roll (former lawyer and ultra runner) and how so much of it is marketing, hype and essentially misses what ACTUALLY works which is the basics!

Rich recently had spinal fusion surgery so is rehabbing himself back to full health, and he shared how Kelly had come to his place prior to the podcast, to run him through a movement session. Rich naturally was a bit worried about what Kelly will be having him do. He shared how, to his surprise, Kelly shows up with a ball, a frisbee and this orange rope. You know what they did?? They played. They laughed. They explored movements with this orange rope Kelly brought. Again, going back to my previous point; Imagine if we LET THAT INTO our days and our health and lifestyle efforts, REGULARLY. I guarantee you will feel LESS STRUGGLE, LESS STRESS ATTACHED and WAY more energy and vibrance for life!

Play. Laugh. Smile.

There's no "rule" saying adults can't do that. In fact, I would argue that the unwritten rule NEEDS to be that we MUST incorporate PLAY and FUN into this life at ALL AGES!!! Want to stop "feeling old"??? There's your recipe.