Move More!

You Need to Move More, So I Wrote a Book to Help You

by Amanda Sterczyk, MA, CPT

Founder, The More More Institute™

Physical inactivity is creating a global health crisis. Labour-saving devices and apps have reduced the need for us to get up and move, which is bad news for our health. Adding more movement to your day with light physical activity doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming, and it doesn’t have to cost a ton of money.

Do you know the Rodin sculpture, “The Thinker?” If you’ve never seen this work of art, let me describe it to you. A very muscular, naked man sits with his elbow on his knee while his chin rests in his hand, and he appears deep in thought. He’s a statue of a moment in time. That’s how still and unmoving many people are for long periods of time. But let me tell you: You’re not a statue, and you need to stop imitating one.

Being sedentary for too long impacts your entire body — your brain feels sluggish, your joints hurt, your muscles stiffen, and your mood turns generally gloomy. I think we can all agree that it’s difficult to be a happy, productive person when you feel like that. Movement is key to happiness — even the famously happy Danes agree with me here.^[1]

So what’s your poison? Is it staying at your desk for hours on end? Or do you hunker down on the couch for an evening of binge watching TV? Or both? Don’t despair, you’re not alone. For me, it’s my hobbies. I like to read and knit. Both of these require me to sit still, and sometimes I forget to take a break and move around. That’s why I decided to write this book. If I need help and nudges to get up and move, surely other people are in the same boat.

My business is physical activity. I’m a group fitness instructor and personal trainer. I have worked with men, women, and children aged three to 93 to help them improve balance, increase flexibility and strength, and understand the importance of daily physical activity. I have trained amateur athletes, weekend warriors, sedentary adults and seniors, children who sit still too much, individuals before and after surgical interventions, people with chronic medical conditions like diabetes (type 1 and type 2), Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, people who have just completed cancer treatments, and those recovering from broken bones or other injuries.

These people all have one thing in common: When they start to move their bodies, they feel better. I get people up and moving because if you move more, you will feel better. And yet, on occasion, I still don’t move enough. Even when I was writing this book, I had to remind myself to stand up and move around every 30 to 40 minutes.

A weekly personal training session or group fitness class of one hour accounts for less than one per cent of a person’s waking hours. I wanted to influence more of people’s lives. I wanted them to get active and stay active every single day. If we only rely on that “less than one per cent” block of time to change your behaviour and get you more physically active, how successful do you think you’ll be? (Psst: rhetorical question alert.)

I hope that the information in this book will inspire you to add more movement to your day. I can’t make your life less busy, but I can help make your life better by teaching you how to add natural movement — aka, non-exercise activity — to your busy life.

*Now available in paperback and e-book versions on Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=amanda+sterczyk, or contact Amanda in Ottawa to buy a paperback copy (sterczyk@gmail.com).

About the Author:

Amanda Sterczyk is an author, an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer and a Certified Essentrics® Instructor. In 2016, she founded The Move More Institute™, an initiative to promote healthy active living by adding more exercise and non-exercise activity to individuals’ daily lives.

Amanda Sterczyk Fitness offers in-home/in-office personal training, Essentrics group/private sessions, and movement coaching/workshops in central Ottawa and online, as well as online personal training via video chat. Amanda specializes in helping retired older adults and sedentary office workers maintain strength, flexibility, and mobility. She has been teaching group fitness classes since 2010. Amanda has taught men, women and children of all ages, as well as elite athletes. Her slogan is: Move more, feel better.

Amanda holds a Master’s degree in Social Psychology from Carleton University (1993). Before her career in fitness, she worked for over 10 years in health promotion research and human resources.

^[1] Meik Wiking, The Little Book Of Lykke: The Danish Search For The World’s Happiest People (Canada: Penguin Random House, 2017): 144–145.