I am a high energy person. I feel more at peace in moving my body. Wellness is a large part of physical fitness. People struggle to maintain motivation and that struggle flourished into a billion dollar industry.
Motivation is not a word exclusive to the fit community rather something we need in every thing we do during active hours. I do laundry because I like soft warm fuzzy towels, and I sweat for a living and need dry clothes to maintain my body heat. I hung up a painting on the wall because I want others to understand what I believe to be great art. I feed my kids because I enjoy silence and they bother me when they are hungry.
See motivation isn't always upbeat and sparkly and full of burpees.
The gag is what motivates behavior couldn't dream to be as affective as habitual behavior. Habits could be thought of as guarantees. A habit of studying is how many achieve degrees and doctorates. A habit of community service makes an individual recognizable in the community. A habit of long days and very little sleep causes stress for one on the list that affect quality of life. Athletes with a habit of high impact movement will experience joint pain, muscle aches, and injury.
It is not in my opinion that the outcome of a habit should be defined as positive or negative. Another neutral word is "consequence". We beings try to rationalize and label our actions before we follow through with them. What if we just took a step back and acknowledge a truth? Coming home every night to a pint of ice cream, blanket and TV remote isn't necessarily a bad habit. It can be balanced with a habit of exercise. When someone doesn't focus on the opportunity that could be created from a habit the opportunity will be missed to be self-motivated. Self-motivation will now be referred to as intrinsic motivation.
Habits are about balance. A lifestyle of balance is based in habits. Habits are formed through intrinsic motivation. External motivation is important but the intrinsically motivated are a lot better looking. My goal as a coach is to take you from external motivation to intrinsic motivation. Someone who can walk into any class, personal session, family cookout tug of war, or military training with confidence. That confidence coming from a regimen or daily movement practice.
My method is through teaching more body awareness or proprioception. Understanding where the body is in space reminds me of a book called FlatLand by Edwin Abbot Abbot. Give that a read if you enjoy STEM humor. Proprioception, much like patience, is tested in every day life. Certain habits help you prepare for that test.
A habit of restorative movement will draw your attention to the places in the body that are being over used and even abused. Sitting all day tightens the muscles around the sciatic nerve and foam rolling, supine twists, butterfly stretches, and the like alleviate that pressure. Similarly, standing all day can cause over extension of the quadriceps and hip flexor, and pressure on the hips and spinal for most people favor a side of the body to shift weight. Laying on the floor with your legs a long the wall will balance this after a long day. That's also a lot of pressure on the back so a little march with the feet against the wall will really go a long way.
Restorative habits will also inform on technique and postural distortions. Things that can be fixed with time and intention. Tai Chi is a great format for gaining more understanding in proprioception.. There is a rigidity as much as there is flow. If the movements do not line up then little energy is flowing around the body and the body will not be stable. Further these micromovements allow people to explore balance in muscle and joint alignment. Running Horse Parting Mane is a strong and forceful movement, however balance and poise is required to summon the power. The habit of practice shapes and molds the body.
Older adults that practice Tai Chi are at less risk for falls, cardio respiratory illness, dementia, depression and anxiety, lower back pain, and improve posture. 250 million people practice Tai Chi and sustain the benefits. Not reap but sustain, they keep the benefits because Tai Chi is a beautiful habit. People don't run to it because there is a group mindset that it is exercise for the elderly. It is. All exercise is for everyone. Older adults can run and jump and beat off attackers.
Those who have intrinsic motivation aren't moving for the fad of the time. Those who have intrinsic motivation aren't staring at themselves unhappy. Those who have intrinsic motivation aren't searching for gym buddies. There is nothing wrong with any of those habits except for the work out that is not met because of lack of external factors.
People misinterpret exercise that makes them sweaty and feel sore the next day as well as a pretty person in front of them doing all the moves perfectly. People often disregard their bodies when they exercise. Delay onset muscle soreness (DOMS) doesn't need a reason more than imbalance of habits.
Lifting and running like crazy for 30-60 minutes elevating your heart rate near its max just to sit at a resting heart rate for days at 75 bpm is too drastic. Eventually any amount of stress is going to elevate heart rate because the heart is so traumatized from preparing for some random death match. Hypertension anyone?
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be as strong as possible, if and only if it is of habit and not spontaneity. Spontaneity should be about that one activity that provokes us to move our body more and more. One of my clients who loves to whine recently purchased a pole for dancing. She desired to be sexy overnight. Well, just the fact that she bought it, I helped her install it, and she got on it is sexy. However, she wanted to emulate what her sexiest self would be so she's been on it everyday for at least an hour. Throughout the day she randomly tries a new move. My favorite is when she sends me a video. Sure I'm upset because she whines when I ask her to plank or foam roller on her tightest zones and suddenly is rolling upside down on a pole. But that's why they pay me the big bucks.
This is the best thing that could have happened. This is a habit that her body is prepared for because I was able to slow her down and work on some of her greatest challenges in her body. Now she's burning active 4,340 calories a week on the Apple Watch. To give perspective, clients with a BMI over 30 are supposed to burn active 2,500 calories a week so that the exercise is not traumatic or injury provoking. That is low. However, the gait and elasticity in a person who has a BMI 24 creates a high likelihood of injury much like an expecting mother whose joints become looser as her body creates space for the fetus to grow.
Over elasticity around joints creates a danger zone during high intensity exercise because the joints that are too loose forced to tighten in an instant will always fail. Vice versa. It is time and habit that fixes these problems.
One thing to consider is the group exercise instructor. A reason many of us become personal trainers is a reason to relax and have an opportunity for our body's movement be dedicated to our own self-care and dedication. This is why the phenomena of a group ex instructor with a BMI over 24 will occur. They are there to get their exercise in too. No one can fake this life. You either live it or you don't.
LegitFit LLC provides low-impact free classes to prepare us to guide you in high intensity exercise. It is about protection and habit. It is about protecting ourselves in an online environment during a pandemic. We want to have all the fun our clients, however the body is so valuable. It is the only one we receive.
The more of our modified classes you attend the more we can cater exercise to you. If you'd like to jump around, check out our videos. There are over 50 videos on the site.
Happy habiting.
Lish