More Than Movement

That’s what I decided to call my first weekly fitness column that wrote for The Daily Barometer at Oregon State University: More Than Movement. I had started my freshman year in college as a beat reporter, covering politics and crime. Those interests fit my major which I initially declared as Political Science – or “poly-scy” as we affectionately called it. But I had also started my freshman year as a newly-certified fitness instructor. Needless to say, my love for fitness soon outweighed my passion for politics.

Thus, when I was a junior, I switched majors to Exercise and Sport Science and proceeded to tell my Editor-in-Chief (who had started as a beat reporter like myself but had more chutzpah than myself) that I wanted to write a fitness column for the Sports section. The Sports editor didn’t like it. “It’s not about sports!” Duh! I told him he was right, and that’s why I intended to call it “More than Movement.” 

I proceeded to write articles about how to stretch, how to eat right, how energy is consumed and used in the body, how to nourish the spirit, and even how to pick the right mountain bike. That last one was directed at an ex-boyfriend who owned a style of mountain bike that I reviewed. I used details from one of our pre-breakup bike rides as a hypothetical experience. I knew he still followed my articles, and I just wanted to let him know I hadn’t forgotten him (Read: young and desperate).

I’m not young and desperate anymore. Unlike back when I was in college — eating fast-food like a pig and never seeing or feeling the effects — I’m now a committed wife and stay at home mom (SAHM). Back then I was teaching 15 high-intensity classes a week (i.e. kickboxing, weights, step, circuit training, etc).

Now I only teach a few live yoga and pilates classes a week, and I eat whatever my kids leave on their plates. I see this lifestyle change in the mirror and the numbers on the scale, and I feel it in my jeans. Suddenly the marriage of fitness and wellness is crucial to me.

Because fitness is truly more than movement. Wellness is more than movement! Fitness and wellness are not synonymous, but they need to be partners walking hand in hand. The partnership might not be so crucial during youth, but as we begin to age and our landscape starts to shift, we have to watch what we eat. We become more aware of what we put into our minds, hearts, souls and bodies. What are you doing that makes wellness more than movement for you today?