Micro Class: Movement > Exercise

You're listening to Optimize with Bryan Johnson. More wisdom in Less Time. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another micro class. This one's on movement is greater than exercise. It's inspired by Move youe DNA by Katie Bowman. Take a moment and think about all the things you do that qualify as exercise. What are they? For me, it's things like burpees and hiking and going on long walks, stretching, yoga, that sort of thing. What are your things that you do when you exercise? Think about that. Celebrate yourself for it. Pat yourself on the back. That's very, very important. But Katie tells us we need to realize that movement transcends and includes exercise. And it's way more important. She says, look at people these days who we consider active, right? They spend something like, let's just say 300 minutes per week exercising. Says that's pretty awesome. But if you look back historically at how much our ancient ancestors moved throughout the day, not exercise, but moved their bodies, they rarely, they never sat, they didn't have chairs, right. They squatted, which is a form of movement in and of itself. It's resting, but it's nowhere near what we do when we sit. Throw 3,000 minutes a week is how much they moved. 10 times more than the active among us, which is why we can be active and sedentary, which we've been talking about. So we need to identify all the opportunities to move throughout our day. She says, here's an example of the difference between exercise and movement. If you go out for a three mile walk, that's exercise, right? And you do it because you want to get stronger and all that kind of stuff. She says, but you can go for a mile walk you to your store, right? You're not doing it to exercise, you're doing it just to go pick up some food. That's an awesome opportunity to move. Even the little parking away from, further away from the store, opportunity to move. We want to find as many of those little opportunities to move. Standing up at your desk every 10 minutes or 15 minutes or 20 minutes or 30 minutes and just moving your posture, stretching a little bit, that's a movement opportunity. The game I'm playing right now, I have perpetual motion machine written on my whiteboard. Inspired by Joan Vernikos, the NASA scientist who says that's what we should be, that's what gravity's asking of us, right? How can I find all the different little ways to move? I can. Throughout the day, I've got a little 20 minute alarm that repeats a timer that repeats on my watch right now so that I get up and I move. Whether that's doing 10 step back burpees or 25 jumping jacks or just just other movements, some stretching, going for a 1 minute or 3 minute or 5 minute walk, finding all these little and taking advantage of all these little opportunities to move. What's exciting about it is it doesn't take more time. Exercise, you got to kind of schedule and get ready for et cetera, but movement throughout our day. Being a perpetual motion machine is something we have available to us without making more time. If you want to watch tv, don't sit on your couch, do a stretch while you're doing it, or do a little workout while you're doing it, whatever. Actually don't even do a workout. Just do a basic movement rather than sitting there sedentarily. So there you go. Remember, movement is far bigger and ultimately more important than exercise. Continue exercising, but integrate all these different ways to move throughout your life. What can you do to become a perpetual motion machine? If you're feeling so inspired, get on that and have another awesome day. See ya. Hi, this is Brian. I hope you enjoyed that micro class. If so, I think you'll enjoy everything else we offer at BrianJohnson. Me. Two basic things. One our free newsletter. It's called the Optimizer. Over 50,000 people start their day with it and they tell us it's pretty awesome. And 2 our optimal living membership program. This is where I put all my best stuff. 10 bucks a month for a ton of wisdom. Two primary things in there philosopher's notes plus optimal living 101 classes. When you sign up, you'll get instant access to 250 philosopher's notes, which are basically six page PDFs and 20 minute MP3s where I capture my favorite big ideas from great books. The PNTV episodes are kind of a mini version of all that goodness. You'll also get instant access to all my Optimal Living classes. This is where I take all the ideas we cover in the Philosopher's Notes and boil it down to the most practical stuff you can apply today. Classes include Confidence 101, Getting Stuff Done 101, Relationships 101, Habits 101, etc. You'll also get access to what we call micro classes that I think you'll love. We aim to astonish and we're blessed to have thousands of members telling us we're helping them change their lives and that this is the best 10 bucks they invest in themselves every month. Go to BrianJohnson ME membership to learn more. Thanks for your support and have an awesome day.