By 
By Gary Wallace
Last week I took one of my most interesting coaching sessions to date. I delivered two sessions with inmates in Maghaberry prison- two hours in the republican wing and two hours in the loyalist wing.
It was something totally different but a great experience for me personally.
I was invited by the IFA as part of their ‘Stay Onside Program’ to talk to the inmates about my role as Strength and Conditioning coach with the NI Men’s team. I also delivered a practical session for them in the gym.
It was another opportunity to help inspire and share as much knowledge as I could with anyone willing to listen.
I soon realised that all the inmates were very engaging in conversation. When reflecting on the day, I wondered why they were so interested.
Was it their love of football, hearing stories or gaining extra health and fitness knowledge? Maybe all of the above, or perhaps it was something more. It seemed that exercise, getting in shape, and how that helps them mentally was a real sense of purpose.
Some of them study, teach each other Irish, and learn to play an instrument, but the majority all did some form of exercise.
Research in April 2021 on the relationship between a sense of purpose in life and physical activity found that our exercise habits may influence our sense of purpose, and our understanding of purpose may affect how much we exercise.
Even for the inmates, their sense of purpose may be to become better people once they get out or to have the mental strength to survive their prison sentence.
The study, which involved more than 18,000 middle-aged and older men and women, found that those with the most stalwart sense of purpose at the start were the most likely to become active over time and vice versa.
What I find interesting about this is that exercise can be your sense of purpose at the beginning but can lead to you finding another sense of purpose. If getting up each day and going for your daily walk is all you look forward to, then stick to that.
People often report more self-efficacy after they take up exercise, which might prompt them to feel capable of setting new goals and developing a new purpose in life. If you have found your purpose in life, which isn’t fitness-related, then adding exercise and movement into your daily habits can help you live a happy, healthy and long life so you can see your purpose fulfilled.
The study also found that many older people report a decreasing sense of purpose in their lives, and they also typically have low rates of engagement in physical activity. I would look at this as an opportunity to keep active.
My personal goal is to keep moving every day for the rest of my life.
When I exercise, I feel better, think of new ideas and plan in my head.
I use the positive natural energy that physical activity provides to help me fulfil my purpose of inspiring millions of people to live a happy, healthy and more fulfilling life.
