The concept of exercise seems to have been born from an attempt to combat the effects of our modern agrarian lifestyle. Our ancestors didn’t run on a treadmill or lie on a bench and press weights, they simply lived highly active lives. Their everyday routines were their exercise, such as covering long distances in search of game or squatting down while foraging for plants. 

Fast forward to today. Unless we are okay sitting for nearly 16 hours a day, we incorporate various forms of activity or risk the degeneration of our body and mind. This ranges from resistance training to cardio and everything in between. Some opt for sports, others for the gym.

My principles for exercise are straightforward and simple. Unless you are training for professional competition, I view health and cognitive benefits to be the primary goals of exercise. Changes in aesthetic are, for me, a passive byproduct. In other words, I focus on what truly matters and don’t get hung up on what I think others see as “beautiful” or “sexy.”

Below, I’ve outlined my principles for exercise, providing supplemental information when appropriate. 

1. Move frequently throughout the day.
   1. Sedentary lifestyles are associated with a wealth of issues, particularly as we get older, such as heart disease, neurodegeneration, and biomechanical imbalances to name a few. 
   2. I like to mix up periods of inactivity with a walk outside followed by some light stretching of problematic areas.
2. Engage in at least one sport you find enjoyable and practice it with intention.
   1. Enjoyment of what you’re doing is a critical component underlying the benefits associated with exercise.
   2. Practicing with intention means you are being purposeful in your attempt to improve at the given skill.
      1. Remember the SAID principle: specific adaptation to imposed demand. We improve because of the specific demands placed on us. It’s remarkable to me how often I see people “training” for a sport by doing anything BUT the sport. 
3. Learn to develop the mind-body connection and stop trying to quantify everything.
   1. Not only does attempting to quantify rob you of what is supposed to be an enjoyable experience, it pushes you away from developing a sense of intuitiveness that is emblematic of self-aware athletes.
   2. Honing the mind-body connection allows a more flexible approach to training. When things aren’t feeling right, tone it down. If suddenly things are too easy, turn it up. Doing this ultimately avoids under- or over-training brought about by silly algorithms or improperly tailored workout routines.
4. Develop a routine. The body optimizes best with consistency in training.
   1. I find that setting specific times for exercise and then modifying their intensity based on my sense of recovery is far more effective than trying to meet pre-set goals. If you plan to compete, set your hardest workout for the same time of day as your competition.
   2. I always begin with a warmup of technical repetition, which primes the mind and body for performance. I always end with a cool-down, aiming to relax the muscles via gentle movements and stretching.
5. Find your balance between maximizing exercise for physical versus cognitive performance.
   1. There is a point beyond which training for physical output begins to compete with cognitive output. Everyone must decide for themselves how they want to balance this.