I just got back from a conference in Chicago. Eight-hour drive each way, two full days of sitting in a conference room, minimal breaks, and a hotel room to collapse into at the end of each night.
And my body absolutely hated it.
Not gym-sore. Not the satisfying tired you feel after a hard workout. Just pain. Stiffness. The kind of ache that makes you feel twenty years older than you are. And the funny thing is — I’ve done Murph. I’ve done long bike rides, hard conditioning workouts, all of it. This two-day conference hurt more than any of them.
That experience reminded me of something I think we all need to hear more often. Something simple, free, and wildly underrated.
Your Body Is Built to Move — And It Will Tell You When It Isn’t
In my regular life, I don’t sit for long stretches. My job keeps me on my feet. I’m coaching, moving around, riding my bike. An hour of sitting is about my limit before I’m naturally up and going again.
So when I looked at my step count after the first conference day and saw I hadn’t even hit half of my usual number — it made complete sense that my body was revolting. Two days of that, bookended by sixteen total hours in a car, and I was genuinely hurting.
Here’s what I should have done: woken up a little earlier and walked around the hotel. Used every break at the conference to actually move instead of just grabbing coffee. Treated every gas station stop on the drive like a mini movement break — get out, walk around the car, stretch, breathe.
I didn’t do any of that. It was my first conference of this kind and I was in full sponge mode, trying to absorb everything. But if I go back next year — and I plan to — that changes.
The lesson isn’t complicated. But it’s one I needed to relearn from the inside out.
The Most Foundational Piece of Fitness Isn’t What You Think
We talk a lot about optimizing fitness. The right workout split, the ideal macros, progressive overload, recovery protocols. All of that matters. But underneath all of it is a foundation that rarely gets the attention it deserves:
Just moving throughout your day.
Not a structured workout. Not hitting a PR. Just keeping your body in motion the way it was designed to be.
When I think about people sitting at desks for eight hours, or grinding through long commutes, or working jobs that keep them stationary most of the day — and I think about how two days of that affected me — I want to say something directly: your body isn’t supposed to be still for that long. Nobody’s is.
The pain you feel at the end of a sedentary day isn’t bad luck. It’s biology communicating clearly. And the solution doesn’t have to be complicated.
It can be as simple as a walk.
25 Pounds — From Walking
On the drive home from Chicago, I stopped to stay with a family member. They mentioned that their kid had challenged them to the 10,000 step challenge back in April. Not a new concept — you’ve heard of it. But this time something clicked. The timing was right, the weather was turning nice, and they just started going on daily walks.
That’s it. No gym membership. No program. No dramatic dietary overhaul.
I was visiting in June — two months later.
They had lost 25 pounds.
I had to ask: what else did you change? And the answer was essentially — just the walking. But here’s what made the story even better: once they started walking, they started feeling better. More energy. And that energy created a ripple. They started cooking more. Started thinking a little more about what they were eating. One simple habit pulled everything else along with it.
That is the compounding effect of getting the basics right. You don’t need to overhaul your life. You need to start one thing — and let it build.
Walks are free. They require no equipment, no gym, no special skill. They are accessible anywhere, anytime, to almost anyone. And the returns are remarkable.
Back to Basics When Life Gets Unfamiliar
Here’s the broader takeaway I want to leave you with — especially as we head into summer, travel season, disrupted routines, and all the unfamiliar situations life tends to throw at us.
When things get unpredictable, don’t try to replicate your perfect routine. You won’t be able to, and the pressure to do everything or do nothing will usually result in doing nothing.
Instead, go back to the baseline.
What’s the most fundamental version of your healthy habits? Strip it all the way down to what travels with you anywhere. For me, that’s three things: eat food I prepared, drink enough water, and move. On this Chicago trip, I did well on the first two. Movement was the thing I let slide — and I felt it.
Your baseline will look a little different. But I’d argue that walking belongs in almost everyone’s version of it. It is the one habit that goes wherever you go, costs nothing, and is accessible even in a hotel corridor or a highway rest stop.
When life is normal — great, build your full routine. Train hard, eat well, optimize. But when life isn’t normal — and it won’t always be — protect the base. Walk. Hydrate. Eat something real. Those three things will carry you through almost any disruption without losing too much ground.
And when you’re back to your regular life, rebuild from there.
Just Start Walking
If you’re not part of a gym or any structured fitness community — that’s completely okay. You don’t need to be. The most powerful first step you can take is also the most literal one.
Go for a walk.
Once a day. Whatever distance feels right. Build the habit before you build the intensity.
And if you are part of a fitness community — don’t forget that all the structured training in the world sits on top of this foundation. Protect your daily movement. Find the steps. Don’t let two days of sitting become two weeks.
My body is very happy to be home and moving again. And I’m grateful for the reminder — because sometimes it takes feeling the cost of something to truly understand its value.
Movement isn’t a privilege you earn. It’s a baseline. It’s free. And it’s one of the most important things you can do for yourself, starting today.
Go take a walk.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7rcMDJ2lS1XG7TdTzmvsGI?si=PjZrg_KUQBmmDwOPNuvytA