Darryl Edwards discusses ‘Why working out isn’t working out?’

75% of UK children spend less time outside than the average prison inmate. 

By absolutely no coincidence, 75% of UK adults will die prematurely from chronic lifestyle diseases including hypertension, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. This isn’t just a UK problem, it’s a global issue. For decades we’ve been wringing our hands (and opening our wallets) over worsening health conditions to get serious about a solution, to no avail.

That seriousness, suggests bestselling author of Animal Moves and fitness visionary Darryl Edwards, could be part of the problem. His recent TEDx talk, “Why Working Out Isn’t Working Out” offers some radical advice: stop getting serious. Start getting curious.

Adding just a bit of activity to our routines, notes Edwards, can halve our risk of premature death. But in a world that’s so intensely geared toward satisfying our natural desire for comfort, safety, and convenience, it can take a fresh pair of eyes to notice the opportunities for incidental exercise that surround us.

If exercise is the answer, we sure choose some punishing ways of talking about it. Slogans such as “Pain is weakness leaving the body” might be chants of self-encouragement to devoted gym-goers, but for the rest of us, they only underscore the essential awkwardness and artificiality of modern workout regimens. When exercise is a chore and relaxation a reward, it’s no wonder that so many gym memberships, taken out so hopefully at the start of the year, never get used.

Edwards knows of what he speaks. Not too many years ago, he found himself falling prey to hypertension, pre-diabetes, and chronic lower back pain while working long hours as a computer programmer. After dragging himself to the gym, getting fitter, stronger, and healthier, but hating the experience, he found his eight-year-old niece put things into life-changing perspective: “It has to be fun,” she reminded him. “It can’t be boring.”

From that point on, Edwards started to see opportunities for movement and exercise all around him by embracing his inner child. By viewing the world as his playground, he developed a philosophy of incidental movement and play-based activities that has made him one of the most sought-after figures on the fitness scene.

In his TEDx talk, Edwards summarizes his approach in three simple suggestions: avoid the sedentary and value fun over convenience; incorporate movement snacks whenever possible, even at work; and take note from our ancestors, who were wise enough to know that our bodies are meant for more than getting from armchair to transport seat to office seat and back again.

“Movement is medicine,” says Edwards. “It’s really that simple.”

To view the talk, please visit https://www.primalplay.com/tedx. 

Darryl Edwards, is a Movement Coach, TEDx speaker and thought leader in the area of creativity and innovation in fitness and health. Darryl developed the Primal Play Method™ to inspire others to make physical activity fun while getting healthier, fitter and stronger in the process. 

Darryl is the best-selling and award-winning author of several books including the April 2018 Amazon UK & US best-seller Animal Moves. His work has been published in titles such as Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Elle Magazine, Men's Fitness and The Daily Telegraph, and featured on the BBC documentaries Eat to Live Forever, and Doctor In The House. He has also appeared in the full-length documentaries Love Paleo and The Human Longevity Project.

To learn more about how Darryl Edwards is changing the way we move through our world, please visit https://www.primalplay.com/ and to put the play back into playing cards visit http://www.animalmovesdeck.com.

The extended abstract "No Play No Gain: Is Exercise as Medicine too Bitter a Pill to Swallow?" is downloadable from the Journal of Evolution and Health.