I no longer ask myself "did I exercise today?" or "how will I exercise today?"! I used to think I had to exercise for 60 minutes every day and was in the mindset that I had to get it done. That ship sailed slowly into the sunset over the past few years when I educated myself on the true definition of FITNESS.
I've taken a multitude of workshops, online courses, passed certifications, read numerous books, poured over hours of videos and posts on the mechanics of human movement, strength and conditioning and nutrition. It is my absolute passion. I've studied and continue to study everything from the human foot and it's mechanics and ability to support us and move us literally through life to how the shoulder joint works, how your diaphragm moves when you breathe, how your muscles grow and how fat cells expand and contract. This passion and quest for knowledge about how we function coupled with my own experience training my body with my coach and training my clients has led me to a completely new view of fitness and health.
As someone who briefly experienced the loss of the ability to move without pain, I will forever view movement as a privilege, and vow to never again take my health for granted.
If you take the time to look at a healthy infant or toddler at play, you'll notice basic patterns when they crawl, squat, jump, balance, shift directions, roll, lunge, swing from bars with their arms overhead, and even when they are upside down. Much of this is done with little fear and what looks like little effort. THIS IS TRUE PHYSICAL FITNESS. Fitness is absolutely the ability to do these things, get up and down from the ground, absorb the force of a landing when you fall.
So, with that in mind, I don't exercise to burn off the cookies I ate the day before or to lose the extra pounds. I move my body with intention and use a systemized approach to regain the things we stopped doing that we used to do effortlessly as children.
I often ask myself how we expect our bodies to accept the force of the ground when we run if we cannot efficiently jump and/or balance on a single leg? Or, how can people play 18 holes of golf if they cannot effectively rotate their upper back or look over their shoulder without neck pain?
When was the last time you checked how your body is moving in relation to some of the activities you enjoy or that you gauged the difficulty of climbing in and out of your car or getting down on the ground to play with your kids or grandkids and getting back up again? How truly "fit" is your body? Are you "exercising" or actually training systematically toward a specific goal?
If you are looking to improve the quality of your life and the activities you enjoy, but you're not sure where to start, reach out to me. It's what I do! It's my passion to get you moving more human and feeling better in the body in which you are living!
Quote: Age is a number, you can reverse it with a movement mindset! You are worth it!
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