What Are You Doing That For?

If you've been a part of our gym for any amount of time, you've seen that we approach things a little differently.  We have all kinds of "weird" mobility exercises designed to free up joints and improve mobility and strength....

And, we also do a bunch of exercises both with and without weights, fast and slow.  Exercises for balance.  Exercises for vision.  

Two questions:

1.  Why do we choose these exercises?  Good question!  We do all of the joint mobility exercises because having good control of freely moving joints is paramount to safety, performance, and injury prevention.  How well and safely your bigger, more complex movements are performed are determined by how well each individual piece (joint) of that movement performs.  

The bigger, more complex movements include a lot of basic movement patterns that we do everyday, whether we know it or not.  "Practice makes Perfect," so doing these movement patterns repeatedly with varying challenges help you perform those tasks more safely and efficiently throughout the day.  Vision and Balance exercises are incredibly important to help us move well and feel good throughout the day.  How well we move through the world is largely determined by how well we see it.  Our balance reflexes are incredibly important to help us move well and stay vertical!  If or brain doesn't "trust" those reflexes or what we're seeing, it will put the brakes on and not allow you to move as quickly and fluidly as you'd like.

2.  Why do You Do these Exercises?  This is an important question to ask.  Are you doing these exercises because we're telling you to do them?  Or do you see all of these movements and challenges as a "skill" that you're trying to get better at?  Multiple studies show that focusing on doing things with the intention of getting better at them accelerate adaptation and results. This is referred to as the "Deliberate Practice"- essentially a shortcut to the 10,000 hour rule of becoming a "master."  (Click Here)  If you (and your brain) are engaged on what you're doing, quality goes up, form improves, you gain a new "skill", and you learn how to move your body with more control, strength, and grace.  The point of exercise is not that it is always hard and making you work hard.  It's not just "work" that we're trying to get done.  Exercise should becomeeasier when you do it because you're body is adapting to it.  If you've noticed, we've hung some quotes on the wall in the gym.  One says "The only purpose of exercise is to feel your body."  If you're focusing on feeling your body and moving it well and purposefully when you exercise, adaptation happens much faster!

So, the next time you come to a trainining session or class ask yourself "Why am I doing this?" and "Am I getting better at it?"  If you don't know the answer to either of these questions, ask!  Fitness training has evolved... You get better faster when you slow down and focus on getting better!