The Benefits Of Starting Exercise Slowly

Jenny Walker
Aug 5
6 min read

A woman in workout gear stretches outdoors on a mat beside a kettlebell and jump rope. Sunlit path with greenery in the background. — Starting exercise slowly, and keeping it simple.

This week I was humbled. As a pretty average 45 year old who enjoys a healthy diet, swimming in the sunshine, and walking the coastal paths, I have allowed part of my movement routine to slide over the past twelve months, and that is adding weights to my weekly self-care time on the exercise mat. Today, I can feel the benefits of starting strength exercise slowly after some time off the weights, as my muscles are letting me know that they have been rediscovered.

Here in the UK the fitness industry is reportedly worth between £2-5bn (yep, B illion), and is only set to rise. That is a lot of money being pumped into everything from gyms, fast fashion athletic-wear retailers, apps and equipment, as well as a few other things such as the rise of Personal Trainers, and an increase in holistic fitness such as yoga and Pilates. As well as the wellness industry reportedly adding another eye watering amount of £3bn into the GDP, we can safely say that we are paying an awful lot to try and stay healthy, yet so many of us just don’t move much.

TLDR: In 2022, the health and fitness industry contributes 7.3% to the UK’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP), and as worldwide consumers, the UK is in third place for most spent behind Sweden and the USA.

Gray dumbbells, a rolled yoga mat, and a pink sports bra on a beige surface, creating a calm fitness setup. — Weights and yoga - my current fave!

So why do these rather large figures matter? Well, as Jess Richburg told me to breath whilst doing some tricep dips in ‘chair pose’, I realised that a lot of my clients do just this; gentle movement work with weighted resistance on a regular basis. It’s not difficult or flashy, most of us get onto our mats in our pj’s, and as long as we are doing it consistently alongside our hands-on therapy sessions, most of the time old injuries are managed and pain eases up.

The reason the figures startled me as I started to investigate was that I just don’t see how these figures translate into what I see in my treatment studio. My basic conclusion this morning was that it doesn’t matter how much money you put into your fitness journey, you still have to get up and do it. YOU have to do the work, you can’t pay your way out of poor health, and I just can’t see how so many billions of pounds equate to the level of sickness I see here in the UK. Something isn’t adding up, and I certainly don’t have the answers here on this blog. But I do think we should think about it when we are investing in our personal health: What investments are we making that actually make a difference to our lives, rather than simply helping the corporations in the industry?

I will have been a therapist for 26 years in September, and to put that in context, when I started referring clients to Pilates back in 1999, there was one teacher in a 25 mile radius, and we didn’t have access to reformers in the UK as far as I knew. I have seen fads come and go, and I had to laugh when I saw ‘Step Aerobics’ had been re-invented lately. But one thing that has held true throughout my time working with clients; motion in lotion.

Motion Is Lotion

Man in blue jacket walks dog on leash along sandy beach path. Ocean and sky in background, dunes with grass on sides, calm scene. — Walking each day has to be one of the best ways of keeping mobile.

I would love to think that this phrase is my own, but it isn’t, I just can’t remember who said it before me. It sums up everything I know about feeling better in our bodies as well as in our minds. When we move, we pump lotion through our joints, our muscles, our spines, our brains and (I believe), we pump our emotions and spirit around at the same time. The reason why the phrase is so relevant to many of my clients is that it makes any and all movement valid!

Everyone’s movement journey is different, not only between person to person, but from time to time as well. Just looking back on my own life, there have been times where I have lifted olympic weights four times a week, climbed just as regularly, as well as making sure that I could get on a gym bike without dying after 45 minutes. There have also been seasons when my body has called for gentler care and I have dug deep into yin or restorative yoga, and mindful mat-based Pilates for recovery through grief and injury. Adding 4kg weights into my yoga at the moment is stretching me enough right now, and I know that I can expect to add to that amount every two weeks or so until I am happy with a new base line.

When clients start working with me I can see that they arrive with the expectation that I will give them a raft of exercises, and we both know that none of them will be done. This is why my approach can seem a little basic (especially if you are a physiotherapist reading this!). We work together to see what you like doing; walking the dog, tidying the garden… it doesn’t matter, but we start there and we simply make it more intentional. If you are lifting bags of compost, it may be nice to do a couple of squats before setting the bag down. If you are walking each day, we may want to put some glute activation to see if you can walk a little further without the lower back annoying you so much. From there, we start to build your movement story; we change it very regularly, and we incorporate the whole body, not just the parts that we are working on.

TLDR: The point is that we don’t have to make movement and recovery complicated as it’s pretty simple. Move each day and enjoy it.

Keep It Simple.

Graffiti on pavement: "STOP HERE, MAKE A WISH... GO AWAY... AND MAKE IT HAPPEN" inside a green circle. Urban and motivational. — Keeping it simple makes it happen

At the moment, I love the fact that I work out in old t-shirts from 1995 and no one sees me doing it at 6:30 in the morning. The routine of a gym or booking a class can also weave in and out of my life, but whatever I do, I keep it pretty simple.

If we keep out routines to something we can stick to they will happen. There is no point in trying to add five days of weight training to your diary if you haven’t moved more than a weight of a pencil in six months. You will ache by day two and never go back! Habit stacking (a concept written about by James Clear in his book Atomic Habits), is a great place to start if you are thinking about adding movement to your day, and it is the framework we employ here at Tidal Wellness.

If you are fit, healthy and workout regularly; GREAT! Keep up the good work, and we can make sure that you can go from the strength you are enjoying now to an even higher level! Just remember to listen to your body and apply what it is asking for.

Inspiration

Three people in swim shorts run on a misty beach with rocky cliffs. The mood is playful and free, with footprints in the sand. — Moving is so much fun with other people!

My inspiration for adding weights to my yoga sessions was a photo a friend sent me on WhatsApp from her gym. After a knitting session fuelled by cake and coffee (my favorite way to spend a day off), she went to the gym to get moving. Her determination on a rather grey mizzley day here in west Cornwall to get her body moving inspired me to dig a little deeper and take care of my own self a bit more. It was a wonderful surprise, and I was so glad that I went with it. These moments that allow us to change can come out of the blue, and we need each other to be the cheerleaders, the instigators, and the accountability friends that get us going! Being part of a healthy community is the best environment to start growing and moving forward.

Here at Tidal Wellness, it is my joy to inspire and cheer my clients on, as well as hold space with them for those times when simply getting out of bed, showered and dressed is a full on achievement for the day. We keep it simple, we keep it real, and we always, always laugh!

The benefits of starting to move more can never be overstated, but it’s the starting that counts. So let this blog be your inspiration to add one thing into your day; whether that is taking the stairs at work, or getting off the bus one stop before you need to. All of it matters, and all of it is great!