How to Like Working Out: Simple Brain Hacks
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About the Show
On this episode, Chuck Gaidica is joined by the Director of Behavioral Health & Planning for BCBSM, Dr. Julia Isaacs. Together, they talk ways to enjoy exercising, temptation bundling and other strategies to change your mindset. In this episode of A Healthier Michigan Podcast, we explore:
- How much exercise you need?
- What tools are there to help you work out more?
- How can you avoid the gym and still workout?
- What does it mean to gamify?
Transcript
Chuck Gaidica:
Have you ever stopped and thought that exercise can actually be enjoyable? Welcome to A Healthier Michigan podcast. I'm your host, Chuck Gaidica, and today's topic, making exercise work for you, work for me too. For many people, just the idea, the mere idea of working out may stop any motivation altogether. Getting over mental roadblocks is sometimes the biggest challenge, and believe it or not, you can get the exercise you need and you can even enjoy it. Exercise is the single most important thing you can do for your health, it impacts sleep, reduces heart disease, many cancers. And today we're talking strategies, including habits that we can all develop, hacks maybe, that we could call temptation bundling, that can help you move from being something that where you're forcing yourself into a habit like exercise, things that you hate, to doing something you really have fun with and enjoy. With us today is Julia Isaacs, who is Director of Behavioral Health and Planning for Blue Cross. It's good to see you.
Julia Isaacs:
Good to see you too. Thanks so much for having me today.
Chuck Gaidica:
Let's start with this. How do we actually exercise each day and how much should we be exercising each day to be healthy?
Julia Isaacs:
Well, the American Heart Association recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity, so an elevated heart rate there, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity. And they also want you to combine that with high intensity strength training. So, lifting some weights or doing something to improve your strength.
Chuck Gaidica:
And you're talking about 150 minutes in the week, not in the day, obviously?
Julia Isaacs:
No, not in the day, sorry, excuse me. 150 minutes a week or 75 minutes of high intensity strength training a week-
Chuck Gaidica:
A week.
Julia Isaacs:
... is what is recommended.
Chuck Gaidica:
And then when you make the equal sign there, so we do 150 minutes a week, which if you divide by seven, even with a day off, you're probably able to accommodate it. But the equal sign is, how does that affect our long-term health, equals healthy body for what reason and how?
Julia Isaacs:
Well, you mentioned a couple of them earlier. So we know heart disease, type two diabetes, blood pressure, sleep, but activity can also make you just feel better overall, have a greater sense of well-being. It can improve your cognition, your memory, and actually has some significant improvements on your mental health, so reducing anxiety and depression. So, quite a few benefits to exercise.
Chuck Gaidica:
And isn't it the case, Julia, that sometimes when we combine exercise with those things that help de-stress us anyway, if you're going for a walk or a jog and you're doing it through a wooded part of the park and you hear birds chirping or there's water running, flowing, some of this stuff is a benefit. It's kind of a bonus to just getting out and working out.
Julia Isaacs:
Yeah, I think it gives us an opportunity to do things like be mindful of where we are, to actually be out in our environment, to talk to others, to see the world, to just for my sake personally, to be away from my computer screen. So, trying to find some of those experiences can definitely make you feel better.
Chuck Gaidica:
Now, I suspect you can tell us a little bit about some mental tricks or some hacks that we can use to make exercise feel easier, enjoyable. So I've seen a phrase, "Temptation bundling." What is that?
Julia Isaacs:
Temptation bundling is a pretty good one. It was first recognized by Katy Milkman and Dr. James Dinan at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. So it really is about taking something that maybe you don't like to do so much, and pairing something that you do like to do. It's not the same as having a reward, right? So having a reward after you do something is one strategy, but temptation bundling is actually making an activity that maybe you don't find that interesting doing, a little bit less dull and more enjoyable.
So, some examples of that could be if you're really like a TV show, you could work out when you watch that TV show. So, it makes it go by a little bit quicker. There's really nothing worse than staring at the treadmill like minute by minute looking, it can make it very tedious and not very enjoyable.
Chuck Gaidica:
Well, I try to do that and you know what else it does for me? So if I'm going to lift weights, pick things up and put them down, I'm trying to do that sometimes while watching a show because I know it's hard for me to eat a snack while I'm doing that. So for me, it's kind of the triple whammy. I'm watching a show with my wife, I'm lifting weights on the floor, and then I can't eat whatever it was I was going to eat. So, it's kind of a good little hack for me anyway.
Julia Isaacs:
That's a good one, yes.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah. And what about the idea of having, we've talked on this podcast about accountability partners. So, I understand that, right? Or somebody that can goad us on, but is this really a great hack to think about, is to have somebody that you're going out to do something with?
Julia Isaacs:
I think it's a twofold, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad. I think having that accountability, it can be fun. I remember how exciting it was post pandemic, going outside for walks near my friends, just to be with a person and have that motivation and have that fun. But I think we always have to have a little bit of a caution because what if your partner, your workout partner decides they don't want to do it anymore? Are you just done? Right? So it's great to have that accountability and to do that, but I think there's always a little bit of a risk there that if somebody changes their mind, you want to have something else in place that you don't lose your motivation to continue.
Chuck Gaidica:
What do you think about it, I've heard this as well, gamifying our workout? I'm not even sure what that means, except some organized game where you're going to jump the hurdles or you're going to win a prize or you're going to get a touchdown. But what do you mean by gamify?
Julia Isaacs:
Yeah, so when we were kids, when we worked out, it was usually through sport, through some set of activity that we enjoyed, right? There was a competitive element to a lot of that. So, entering into activities that there's a friendly competition. So, think about things like joining a softball league. There's also a lot of workout classes now that incorporate some team challenges. So, there's quite a few of those now because people do enjoy them. And if you don't want to go work out with other people, they actually also have apps that turn workouts into games and challenges. Have you heard of Pokemon Go?
Chuck Gaidica:
Yes, yep.
Julia Isaacs:
Pokemon Go is one that was really popular a couple years ago, I think it's made somewhat of a comeback. And you kind of have to go around to different places and catch these little Pokemons. My kids play it, so I haven't played it that much, but it's a game, right? You're moving your body but there's a game aspect that can be fun for some folks.
Chuck Gaidica:
Let's talk a little bit about goal setting. We've talked on this podcast about smart goals. That's not the only way to set goals, and then to make sure you're celebrating when you've got to a win. That's good for all of us, I think across the board in and out of exercise, but talk about goals and celebration of them.
Julia Isaacs:
Yeah, so you've talked about smart goals before, so making sure they're realistic and attainable. Right? So when you're working out, you want to make sure that you are setting realistic goals. So if you have, for example, never run a marathon, you've never run before in your life saying, "I'm going to go run a marathon," seems really big. Right? Or if you're lifting weights, you want to be able to lift, I don't know, 100 pounds or something, do a bench press of 100 pounds. That can really set you up for failure because it might not be attainable. So if you set smaller goals, realistic goals, running a 5K, maybe at first you're going to walk a 5K, right? You've never even walked three miles. It can feel like an accomplishment and set you up to do more and to feel like you can do more because you've already done that.
Chuck Gaidica:
When it comes to more concrete examples, I guess, if you will, real life examples of how someone can compare workouts with stuff they already love doing, what other suggestions would you have?
Julia Isaacs:
So I would encourage everyone to think about the things that they really do like doing, and maybe even things that they liked doing when they were younger or children that they don't get to do anymore. Right?
So, I love to dance and going to the gym for an hour and lifting weights and going on the treadmill really feels like a lot of work to me to drive there and to do it. But if someone said, "Could you dance for an hour?" I'd say, "Oh, I'd love to dance. Yes, I could do that." So, thinking about things that really speak to things that you love, I would encourage folks to think about, what are things that they do like, and then what are some additional ways they can add on to those that make it even more enjoyable?
So, you talked about watching TV. I really enjoy audiobooks. So, I save the best books that I have to do when I'm outside and doing physical activity because I know it'll make that thing a little bit more enjoyable.
Chuck Gaidica:
If you're still working from home, a lot of people are, are there ways in your mind that we can stay active without hitting a gym that we are totally at home and we're going to try to find some exercise that maybe we can't get outside? What could we employ then, if the weather does become a thing, let's say?
Julia Isaacs:
Yeah, I think this all became a pretty abrupt realization during COVID when many of us had to work from home and were used to kind of being in an office setting or being out and about more, and I found myself even sitting a lot more than I normally would. So I was able to get a standing desk, which I try to force myself to use more than I probably would if I didn't do that. And there's little things you can do during that time, right? So you can do some squats while you're on a call. You can take a little walk. You just mentioned taking phone calls, so is there a meeting or a phone call that you can take while you walk? Getting in steps and also completing important things that are necessary for your work or other aspects of your day.
Chuck Gaidica:
Well, and that non-essential exercise thing, what's that in acronym, NEET? Trying to, like you're saying, just go for a walk while you take a call in the dining room and through the family room and you're just making a loop. I've been surprised myself personally when I've done that because I track my steps daily too, that you can do it. You can pack on a few steps that aren't just five or 10, and so it does work things out and I like that because there are days where I'm busy and I am doing phone calls or sitting. I'm sitting right now, and there are ways to work that in.
Julia Isaacs:
Yeah, little bits. I mean, even if you can find some little weights that you can do. And I think the method message here is really that something is better than nothing. So, if you can even do a little bit of something, you start to feel better about yourself and gain some confidence and that you are not just sitting around all day.
Chuck Gaidica:
Before we get to some takeaways and wrap things up, I wanted to go back right to the beginning when you mentioned that 150 minutes a week for exercise, but you also talked about strength training, and I know there's a lot of focus, at least I shouldn't say there is a lot, I'm hearing a lot more about focus where it's not just all about cardio. That especially as we're aging, working on muscles, and again, not giant 50 pound dumbbells, right? I mean, it could be five pounds, 10 pounds, pick your context, whatever's appropriate for you. But that idea of resistance training is really important for our health, isn't it?
Julia Isaacs:
Yeah, and as we get older, we know that it's more and more important. So, we tend to lose muscle a lot faster as we get older, and so it becomes more necessary for us to do additional strength training. And again, not the full 75 minutes has to be strength training or the 150 minutes of moderate. Just incorporating some of that high intensity strength training, doing a little bit is better than nothing and can really make your body feel pretty good.
Chuck Gaidica:
Well, now let's get some takeaways. I know you're kind of peeking through a window. You've got a lot of windows you're looking through here, behavioral health, we're talking about cardio, we're talking about weights, but give us some good takeaways here for this episode. What should we be thinking about, I guess we can still call them hacks, to make exercise more enjoyable and fun?
Julia Isaacs:
Yeah, so the first takeaway I want everyone to have is that, try some different things, in the same way that you try different foods hopefully, or you try different activities to think of what you might like. Try a few things and see if something speaks to you because it'll be a lot easier to do exercise and to sustain that activity if you find something that has some enjoyment in it.
The other thing I would like to mention is most of us, if not all of us, fall off our exercise routine at some point, right? We fall off, something happens, it becomes impossible, we can't do it, we're sick, we're back to back with things. Finding a way to get back to it is really, really important.
And then the last thing is just, enjoy it. It goes back to enjoyment. So if you're not enjoying the exercise a ton, is there something else that you can do better that you might enjoy more? Or is there something that you can talk to your friends, you can talk to your family? There's all sorts of wild interesting exercises out there that I think we don't even think about. We think of the traditional, I got to go to the gym, I got to lift heavy weights, I got to go running. There's lots of different kinds of exercise, so, find something that you like.
And just as a reminder, because I am the behavioral health person, exercise really can improve your mood. So if you're feeling low, a lot of us when it starts to get dark here in Michigan, tend to maybe experience some anxiety, some depression. Again, lots of clouds, not a lot of sunlight. It can really help your mood, so keep that in mind too, as why it's really important to start to exercise.
Chuck Gaidica:
You know what? It's been so great having you, Julia, and I appreciate this idea of encouraging me. I am going to make it admission right now. My daughter, our oldest daughter has left a paddle board at our house. I don't have water right by my house but I can get to it. And I just think, I'm so afraid of this idea. I'm afraid I'm going to look like a goof when I fall off. I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to do it. And you're encouraging me to sort of, well, forgive the pun, dip my toe in the water. Literally, just go try it, right?
Julia Isaacs:
Yeah, go try it.
Chuck Gaidica:
I mean, if you're going to get wet, you're going to get wet. Just I look at it all the time and think, I think I would like it. I think I would have fun doing this, but I'm a little reticent, so you may have pushed me into the lake, just saying.
Julia Isaacs:
You can do it.
Chuck Gaidica:
Yeah, thank you. Well, it's good to see you. Thanks for your help today.
Julia Isaacs:
Thank you so much for having me.
Chuck Gaidica:
Oh, sure thing. Julia Isaacs has been with us. She's the Director of Behavioral Health and Planning for Blue Cross, and we're glad that you've been with us as well. Thanks for listening to A Healthier Michigan podcast, it's brought to you by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. If you like our show, you want to know more, you can always check us out online. Go to ahealthiermichigan.org/podcast. You can leave us a review or rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and you can always follow us, YouTube channel, we're on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. You can get new episodes like this, old episodes as well, you can use them on your smartphone or tablet. So, be sure to hit that subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. I'm Chuck Gaidica, go ahead, try, try something new. See you next time.
