Sports mission: Fitting fitness into life

Salvation Army sports mission specialist Rob Moye offers tips to help people get fit in the new year.

One of the most common new year’s resolutions is ‘to exercise more’, but a lot of people find the habit hard to keep up. Salvation Army sports mission specialist Rob Moye has some tips as to how it can go from something we’ve written down to something that becomes a part of our life.

‘It’s important not to overdo it,’ he says, ‘but to consider doing your chosen exercise more regularly. Try to become more rhythmic in your everyday. Exercise is unlimited. It could be that you live in a townhouse, so you’ll walk up the stairs 10 times. Elderly people who are on the sofa could do chairobics.

‘Start at the beginning, it’s a very good place start,’ Rob sings in Sound of Music fashion. ‘I’d say to people, ask yourself one thing you’d like to start this year – Couch to 5k, the gym, swimming, walking with other people – and begin there.

‘Find fitness that fits your life, your schedule and how you’re wired. Could you exercise before the school run? Before going into the office, or as you go into the office?’

Rob says that the support of other people is key. 

‘Tell some people that you’ve started an activity, and let them encourage you when you send a message to say you’ve done it. Life is like riding a bicycle – to keep your balance, you must keep moving forward.

‘It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s OK not to succeed some days. Every day is a new day to start again.’

Rob speaks about exercise from experience. He runs 5k six days a week, and his work as a sports mission specialist with The Salvation Army entails helping people combine their ‘passion for Jesus with their love for sport’.

He says: ‘At The Salvation Army we love God and love others, so we’re interested in people – the whole person, their health and their happiness. We use sport as a tool to engage with the communities that we live in.

‘We want to be a church without walls – and in sports mission we are. We are being an expression of God’s love and compassion, engaging with all ages in sporting arenas, green spaces and recreational grounds.

‘We support Salvation Army churches across the country in what they are doing in their areas. In Swinton in Manchester, The Salvation Army is building relationships with people at a gym café to help them with their everyday wellness.

'In York, an amazing guy called Charlie Malarkey is using boxing to help people in their recovery from addiction or their homelessness.

'A group of Salvationists in St Ives meet on the beach every Sunday for croissants and coffee – they read the Bible and they surf. They’re engaging with the surfing community and getting to know them.

‘Many people in The Salvation Army are involved in parkrun too. They run or walk the course, they spectate and they cheer for others. It’s amazing how God is using them.

Rob also believes that there is a connection between the physical activity people are doing and their mind and spirit.

‘God has given us a body, and I think he is asking us as human beings to glorify him in the use of our bodies,’ he says. ‘We can do that by being active, being relational and enjoying life.

‘When I run, I feel God’s Spirit with me. When I get back home and have good endorphins, I feel positive in my mind. Physical activity impacts everything. If I didn’t run, I’d feel sluggish and wouldn’t be as energised. 

'But when I do run, I have time to see God, speak to God and listen to God. There is an interconnectedness in body, mind and spirit.’

Rob sees sport as being able to play a part in tackling social problems.

‘Loneliness and isolation are through the roof at the moment,’ he says. ‘Sport can help with that, because it encourages engagement with others.’

Acknowledging that people’s negative past experiences of sports – in school, for example – can influence them, Rob encourages people simply to get moving.

‘People can see the word “sport” and think “I’m not sporty”, but if we change the word to “exercise”, “movement” or “wellness”, so many more windows of opportunity can open up.

‘Not everybody likes to run or cycle. But ask yourself: “What do I want to do? What is going to give me the most pleasure in my everyday life?”

Sometimes you can start exercise and find it difficult, or beat yourself up because day two wasn’t as good as day one, or day five ended up being rubbish.

'But if you make movement part of your ordinary life, you can continue to build up those good habits.’