My name is Olajumoke Olumide, I grew up in Lagos Nigeria, as a young girl before I was 10yrs there abouts, I was very tiny but then in my teenage years I was on the big side so much so I was known as chubby Jumoke in Schools. I remember I used to admire the runners in school but I just didn’t have the body (I thought!).
Also, I was not encouraged to join the sports as people like me were not invited in the schools inter house sport because the school house did not want to lose!!
With this mindset, I resigned to chubby Jumoke mindset but then when I got to my pre university years and was sent to United Kingdom to study, I had this inner thought that I was tired of this look and I really wanted to get fit. This change began my turn around and love for fitness. I started walking in the mornings every day by myself and then started jogging and that is how I got into the world of fitness.
I have to throw in a caveat here I grew up seeing my dad doing some form of exercise in the morning. He did some simple stretches and leg lifts almost every morning before his shower, so I was used to and impressed with seeing activity as a part of everyday lifestyle.
What is physical exercise?
Physical exercise is the performance of some activity in order to develop or maintain physical fitness and overall health.
What is an example of exercise?
Examples include brisk walking, jogging, swimming, and biking. Strength, or resistance training, exercises make your muscles stronger. Some examples are lifting weights and using a resistance band. … Flexibility exercises stretch your muscles and can help your body stay limber.
Top Benefits of Physical Activity
- Improve your memory and brain function (all age groups).
- Protect against many chronic diseases.
- Aid in weight management.
- Lower blood pressure and improve heart health.
- Improve your quality of sleep.
- Reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.
- Combat cancer-related fatigue.
- Physical activity enhances thinking, learning, and judgment skills
- Physical activity ensures healthy growth and development in young people
- Physical activity improves overall well-being
African Women – our Genes
My image of African women and in general Black women is that of women who were and are very active physically. Growing up in Nigeria, we saw women in the villages, as the ones that go out to get water for the household, get food for the household, cook all day and these foods take a while to prepare, some require pounding for hours by hand fr example pounded yam! Coupled with it this, women used to walk everywhere, hence physical fitness was not an issue it was a life style. Fast forward to the 20th Century, with all the modernisation, we have traded this physical activity and replaced it with “life”. Today it is considered luxury to go to the gym and in some culture looked down upon if you choose to walk everywhere some may see you as struggling economically.
What the experts says
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), Adults aged 18–64 years
- should do at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity;
- or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity; or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity throughout the week
- should also do muscle-strengthening activities at moderate or greater intensity that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these provide additional health benefits.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
These statistics looks feasible when we see it on paper but we just don’t seem to get the time or the discipline I hear people say? Let’s continue to consider what the experts are saying:
WHO publish same article:
- Globally, 1 in 4 adults do not meet the global recommended levels of physical activity
- Up to 5 million deaths a year could be averted if the global population was more active
- People who are insufficiently active have a 20% to 30% increased risk of death compared to people who are sufficiently active
- More than 80% of the world’s adolescent population is insufficiently physically active
According to NHS- National Health Service (England) report, on connection between Covid 19 and physical Activity: the following was their conclusion:
“Consistently meeting physical activity guidelines was strongly associated with a reduced risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes among infected adults. We recommend efforts to promote physical activity be prioritised by public health agencies and incorporated into routine medical care”
Mindset of an Active person
The above shows us that with all that is happening in life, we have no choice but to take Physical activity seriously
The easiest way to think of physical activity is to plan it into our daily lives just as we plan eating or sleeping so we plan some activity into our lives.
This is what really helped me to get into fitness. I do not see myself as a gym junkie, although I have been in the past but I realise that I don’t have to go to the gym every day to get the perfect body. What we need is to think of exercise is as a form of activity that is a necessity of life. I have tried by the Grace of God to build this thinking into my life such that on a daily basis I try to go for simple brisk walks. The good thing about walking is its low impact, you can do it by yourself or you can do it in company of others. If I do it by myself, I take it as a “me” time, and 30mins in the morning and evening on a daily basis or at least 4x a week makes a difference. When I do it with friends it’s a chance to catch up and have laughs or serious discussion.
Another way to keep momentum going is to try and do something that you enjoy. During Covid, myself and a friend ended up doing 3hrs walk a day, we looked forward to these times because we discovered different routes we never knew and this made it fun.
If you don’t like walking then simple stretches to increase the heart rate such as 20mins a day is also what I have found useful. When I travel, which I do a bit with my job, I may not get to walk but after some days, I make sure I do some stretches in my room. It may seem hard at first but I put on my music or pod cast and I find that 20mins goes very quickly.
This simple routine I find helped me move from 20mins exercise a day as a chubby teenage to becoming a qualified fitness instructor as a career which lasted for a short time. Start simple but consistent. Don’t think of the big 1hr, you may never find that time but aim for the 15-20mins a day everyday and see how your body begin to thank you for it.
Some may ask but I just don’t have the discipline? My response to that is, probably because you are thinking of it as a separate activity in your life but if you think of physical activity as a necessity like food then the discipline comes. Choose the simplest form of activity that you know and enjoy enough to raise your heart rate and that is what you need to get started.
I hope that I have been able to start by sharing the importance of physical activity with you and get you thinking that its not an add on to your life but it should be part of your life. I am hoping that this will help you change your mind set that physical exercise is not for just some set of people but its for all of us and also to let you know that its in our genes we just have to believe it. I hope that as more of this article goes on you will also get the drive and passion to see a change in your level of physical fitness.