Ok, the ever important question is what are we training for when we are exercising? I really am asking you and would love to hear your responses in the comments section. It is a good practice to write it out, I promise…
My answer: I am training to be strong, stable, fast, flexible, grounded, dynamic, balanced and controlled in a large variety of complex situations. These situation include the random times you slip and need enough proprioceptive sophistication to catch yourself or those around you when it matters most. I am training to be a strong climber, dancer, lover, runner, fighter, hunter (I don’t actually hunt animals but would like to know I could if I needed to), gatherer, teacher, student. I am consciously taking all of these factors into my training and it creates real value and purpose for investing precious time into strengthening myself. We must start here with our intentions and purpose and from that point we can begin to build a program to achieve our set goals.
Movement is a great privilege and at the same time is obligatory to mental/physical health. It is in our favor to take joy in our movement as an expression of who we are and slow things down to create complexity of patterns. These complex patterns are what the body and mind craves. We are capable of an infinite array of patterns and are limited only by our creativity and commitment to development. Let’s face it, doing stuff we suck at is no fun but that is where the magic is at. By continually living at the edge of your comfort and limitation, we can continually expand our self-imposed boundaries. This is where the money is at on every level. In yoga, they call this the edge. In life, we can call it the recipe for progress.
In the video, I am demonstrating a squat with an added level of complexity. Firstly, raising your arms above your head will increase leverage on your mid-section or “core”. Then performing deep squats while maintaining neutral spine and well engaged glutes/corset muscles will reverse the deleterious impacts of sitting. Now, if you have figured out how to functionally squat following all the guidelines I have previously outlined in past posts, it’s time to spice things up even more. Throw in some more complexity to your movement by rotating the weight around your head as you are squatting. This will engage all the nooks and crannies of your tissues and nervous system.
We can think of our bodies as vast engines which will increase in power as we activate all of its moving parts. Most of us only operate on one or two cylinders because we ask for power to a small percentage of our body. By pushing the limits of our bodies, we in turn ignite a greater potential of overall power production. It’s like an efficient factory; if you you own a warehouse, it is in your favor to get the whole space fully functional and producing your product or in this case more energy. You’re probably expecting me to relate life to a box of chocolates next but I’ll cool it on the metaphors for bit. It is slightly paradoxical that the more energy we put in, the more energy and value we get out but life is a paradox, so let’s just dig in!
