Just get stronger!
If yes, you are like most of the population. We have lost our way in terms of basic physical function.
I'm not even talking about just the general population of people not moving enough. Athletes of all kinds are suffering from chronic imbalances and pain.
The feeling you get when you first wake up in the morning or the discomfort you have right before you go to bed after a few hours on the couch. This is what I call the score-card of your structural health.
Take us back to a time in history and think about when chronic pain was rare. Acute injury was the main concern. So what changed?
EVERYTHING!
We are not doing what we were designed for!. We are not moving enough, we are not moving well and we have just got lazy!
What if I told you the way you move, is the way you think?
Stiff rigid thinking?
Mentally unstable?
The body mirrors the mind and vice versa. They are inseparable.
Some of the great thinkers and philosophers throughout history got taught the idea of conditioning to think deep. They knew the mind could not reach it's full potential without a body that had optimal mechanical function. Even our most popular religions preach; mind, body, spirit balance.
This points to the importance of getting strong, stable and mobile.
A chicken or egg debate when it comes to the hierarchy of body and mind is a waste of time in my opinion at this moment. Work on both. Find deficiencies, up-regulate them and get on with enjoying life.
The purpose of this blog is to help you understand how physical weakness has infiltrated your body and offer tips to make you stronger.
Let me throw a few human inventions that may contribute to our physical weakness:
- The modern toilet
- Chairs
- Automobiles
- The fork
- Modern shoes
You are shitty at squatting because you sit on too many thrones. When on a daily basis do you squat super deep and stay there?. The hips are made to be taken through a myriad of positions, including deep squatting. This really is a game changer for lower body mechanics and function.
Toilets and chairs equate to a lot less daily squatting.
Look at cultures that have holes in the ground still. Cultures that have maintained deep squatting. They have a lot less back pain, less knee injuries and far less foot dysfunctions.
If you are not willing to give up yours thrones, then you better learn some seriously cool movements in the gym perhaps.
This is a Metro-Paleo world now!!
What about the shoes?. The feet need covering, not strangling. Your feet need to move freely and smartly, not supported constantly like a newborn baby. 
A saying that I love is:
"The more expensive the shoe, the cheaper the body".
We are valuing looking great over feeling and moving better.
If you fall in to the category of a shoe fashion follower, then once again, you better have a wonderful movement routine that allows free moving bare-feet.
You can have the best of both worlds!
I have become a lot more pragmatic about these things recently. We can't fight the modern world completely. It is a balance between old essential understanding and inevitable modern ways of life.
The fork is symbolic for an over fed society. We eat too fast, we eat too much and we don't show enough respect for what we put in our mouths.
In basic terms, we are fatter than we have ever been in history.
A heavier body puts a lot more strain on every joint in the human body. More wear and tear, more pain and much more inflammation.
I always say to people: I actually don't mind you carrying more fat, as long as it doesn't effect your bloods, your health potential or disrupt support of your goals. If you carry more weight, you just need to get strong enough to maintain relative functional strength.
I give you the example of completing one full pull-up. To make it easier, you can get lighter, stronger, or both. Being able to pull your body up is such a fantastic and beautiful thing to achieve. It tells me you have one of the major survival movement patterns. It shows me you have so much more insurance for denying shoulder and neck injuries. Being strong and having a good power to weight ratio is how I sell the idea of functional gym training.
Now for the automobile discussion. If you use a car on a daily basis and you don't get anywhere near 10,000 steps daily and you have the strength of baby kitten, then shame on you!
I love cars, I love that humans can travel anywhere in the world without lifting a finger.
BUT, maybe we should be held accountable for our inability to walk, run, and jump enough.
If you are sick of paying for the orthopedic surgeons BMW's, or funding the physio's retirement fund, then listen up!
The gym laboratory is a safe place (well it is at mine) where you can practice fundamental movement principles and patterns on a regular basis.
You have to start thinking about the layers of learning.
A warrant of fitness for lack of better description, to show you the order of layers.
People are getting caught up in the details and complexity of the human body. You need to leave the complexity to the coaches (that's their job).
They can assess you and figure out all the intricacies of imbalance and jammed tissue, and write down all the advanced jargon that makes them look super smart.
You just need assurance that you have the right formula, then you can attack the gym with confidence.
It is important for us coaches to take the complex information and now create a language that is much simpler to understand. At the end of the day, you are only going to function better, if you get stronger while you are moving smarter.
So I'll paint a W.O.F picture as an example. (I individualise these extensively)
Primal patterns:
Squat - Can you perform any kind of a deep squat holding at least half of your body weight?
Lunge - Can you perform a deep lunge with body-weight for 20 repetitions each leg?
Push - Can you complete 1-5 full push-ups in perfect form?
Pull- Can you complete one perfect pull-up at a slow 3-1-3 tempo?
Bend - Can you lift your body-weight off the ground?
Twist - Can you perform a well coordinated cable wood-chop for 8 repetitions each side?
Gait - Can you run 1 km without stopping at moderate pace
This is a very quick example and summary to show you some possibilities. It gives you a goal for training. It challenges you to be a stronger human.
By the way, I have many 60+ clients who can kill this list!
Each primal pattern can be adapted to fit peoples needs and requirements.
I can take each pattern and give you a scale of 1-20 for complexity.
1 being the easiest and 20 being most complex.
You get given exercises on the 1-20 spectrum that fit your abilities, and then you get challenged to climb the ladder point by point. Until you reach a strength level that suits your requirements for your life.
As an example of a squat pattern level 20 could be a deep squat with a bar above your head and hold at the bottom for 3.
A squat pattern level 1 could be on your back on the ground. performing a basic lifting bridge.
I love to create programs that allow life movement freedom. When your body is stronger, life is so much easier and more exciting to move through and experience physically.
So look at any problems you have with pain and mechanics. Ask your self simple questions.
I have knee pain and hip pains. Ask yourself "how is my squat and lunge pattern?. "Do I have these at the correct complexity in my weekly program?".
My back always hurts!. Ask "How is my bend pattern? Maybe it needs attention?
I have neck pain and my shoulders are problematic! Ask "Do I have enough upper body strength?".
"Can I perform body-weight push and pull movements efficiently?"
You can go to your coach and discuss these issues. A coach should know how to assess problems, tweak program designs and take charge of any other complex deficiencies.
A good program looks like it has all of those fundamental movement patterns.
A great program will have additives of corrective movements to take care of support muscles and patterns that are the genius of modern day sports science.
If you cover all the fundamental movements in daily life, then guess what?, you don't need the gym.
If you do require training, then choose your gym and coaches wisely.
Be aware of fad fitness plans, and weird looking exercises given for no apparent reason.
You should have a good reason for all movement you adhere to.
Learning how to get strong in the gym is like learning a new language. You require some formal education to become fluent.
The bad news perhaps is that you have to invest a whole lot of time and effort in to this project if you really wish to get strong and stable for life.
The good news is that it's never too late to start, and it might just be fun!
Health Coach
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