Exercising to do yourself a whole lotta not bad
Our modern exercising habits fall very short of truly thriving. Instead of nourishing our bodies for peak performance and longevity, many programs are characterised by a "not bad" approach, aiming simply to follow a program to avoid weight gain, move through exercises the industry currently deems necessary and all rather than optimising health:
we’re outsourcing how we feel and what we need to a whole industry
we’ve an over-reliance on ‘processed’ exercises, where someone’s else’s corrective movements look cool and you should probably be able to do them
we’re training for dopamine over relaxation and relief
our programs are high in turnover and output (think HIIT and endurance conditioning) despite our needs in daily life (so we’re deficient essential movement micronutrients as well as whole moves - think touching your toes, getting up off the floor, getting out of bed without feeling like a stiff piece of board!)
We’re making choices out of ignorance or lack of desire, a mentality of once and done (2-3x a week ‘will do’) but also often about lack of access, affordability, and time to what we each uniquely need for ‘safety’ sake, afraid to trust our own instincts of what we need that day.
Most of us exercise in ways we think is appropriate versus what we can know is for our own body. Fitness influencers and the fitness industry teach us impressive or ‘science backed’ programs you’ve to follow if you’re just not gonna get there. We’re being taught to undervalue our own body’s needs:
to lift heavy (um, have you ever lifted before, so is heavy a good idea for you?)
get your 10000 steps (how do you get them, and can you still get up and down off the floor and play with your kids with all the stiffness it’s causing you?)
be consistent, daily (no matter how you’re feeling go, go, go!)
more is more, you’re never enough, and it goes on!
The solution? Check in with your body. Daily. You can do an easy step by step joint by joint movement check in in under 5 min and know exactly where and what you’re gonna do. Check in routinely on your program (and do have a program; if you’re not assessing you’re guessing, if you’re failing to plan you’re planning to fail!). Get advice if you’re unsure what’s the best route for your body. But ultimately learn to harness what YOUR body needs.
DM for details of our upcoming ‘Training for YES’ program where you’ll ask your body what it needs, check in thru foundational moves that we revisit after each session to know you’ve improved, and track those side by side to show you where your biggest improvements are to be gained.
