Find out how to include games in your workouts – 08/14/2023 – Equilíbrio

Growing up, Kyle Luigs was a shy boy who loved sports. He finished his sophomore year pitching at the University of North Georgia in 2018 and needed a place to play for the summer, so he decided to try out for a team called the Savannah Bananas.

The Bananas are a professional dancing baseball team that have become a TikTok darling. The team is known for its silly pranks: a player doing full leg extensions at the batter’s base and then somersaulting to first base, bats on fire, choreographed dances in mid-game in the outfield, and batters on stilts.

But Luigs didn’t dance — not at weddings, not at parties, and certainly not in front of a packed baseball stadium. It took a while for him to get the hang of wearing a yellow cowboy hat and rolling the pitcher’s mound, but after two summers he realized he was playing better with the Bananas; the average number of runs scored against him was less than half that of the college team. Relaxing and messing around on the field relaxed him, he said, and he stopped focusing so much on shooting.

Luigs recalled his college coach saying, “‘Why don’t you pitch the way you do there?'”

When adults exercise — whether it’s running, doing push-ups or playing soccer — they tend to have the same resolute expression on their faces. However, many experts say that adopting a playful attitude towards exercise benefits mental health, adds variety to the workout and encourages people to keep moving.

Lower your inhibitions about movement

For most people, movement stops being fun in the early teens, when many stop playing and competitive sports come into play, said Matthew Ladwig, assistant professor of integrative human health at Purdue Northwest University.

Darryl Edwards, founder of an exercise program called the Primal Play Method [Método da Brincadeira Primal], said the key to rediscovering the fun of exercise is to enjoy the memories of when it wasn’t a chore. In 2011, Edwards left a stressful job at an investment bank to become a personal trainer. But he soon noticed that many customers looked bored, looked at their watches or canceled at the last minute. He also noticed that he often got bored too.

So he remembered his childhood for inspiration. “The most important part of my day was: when could I play? Who am I going to play with?” he said.

Edwards began incorporating play into his workouts and those of his clients: climbing trees, balancing on railings, and crawling on all fours instead of going to the gym. Finally, he created a workout to build strength and endurance through children’s play. Clients of his carry someone on a “horse” on their back and play tag instead of lifting weights.

Clients not only get a solid workout, he said, they also change how they view movement. A mother who struggled to find time to exercise started working out with her kids on the way to school, jumping over cracks in the sidewalk and playing hopscotch, and now arrives at work refreshed.

“Play is not the activity,” said Edwards. “It’s the attitude you have.”

Find small ways to be more childlike.

Start by simply watching children as they play. Dr. Ladwig said that children don’t move constantly for long periods of time; they stop and start again: they run after the ball, then they play a game. Ask a friend to kick a ball or throw a Frisbee with you at the park. Or, include running or jumping times in your daily walks.

Kids are easily distracted by the fun, so for runners with an adventurous spirit, Edwards suggests using your route as a playground, balancing on railings or climbing trees.

If that seems too risky, bounce a ball while walking the dog or make up a game giving you two points if you pass someone and deducting five if someone passes you. Or pick things to count, like streetlights, red cars, or something that makes you laugh, and keep going until you reach a certain number.

Children are also not worried about making mistakes or looking silly during the exercise. Try playing your favorite music and dancing around your living room, said Erica Nix, a trainer in Austin, Texas. For her online aerobics classes, Nix wears vintage gym clothes and interprets song lyrics.

“I want to make exercise fun and silly, take away the idea of ​​perfectionism,” she said. Having fun with exercise is trying new things and not being afraid to fail. “This is where you must make mistakes,” she added.

Fun doesn’t mean you’ll be smiling all the time, Edwards said. However, if when you finish you feel like doing it again, it’s something you’ll probably keep doing.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves