Dad I want to do pushups like you, but, I can’t.
Well buddy, how do you expect to do be able to do pushups if you don’t do them? So son instead of saying I can’t do pushups say I can’t yet and get to work.
This conversation happened recently in my home. The outcome to this was my son now comes with me to my morning track work. I started him doing a lap then a push up routine and I do this right along with him. I told him the key is proper form and strengthing up in all of the supporting muscle structures. So we started on the wall at a slight angle after each lap, to gradually decreasing the angle and adding in planks. Now, he is able to rock them with the rest of the guys in his gym class. Good job buddy.
My musings of late have been on movement. Now this is something that is only 10% to 20% of the journey to weight lost (nutrition being of course the rest). However, it is vital to the fitness of our wonderful bodies we live in. I hear often complaints of I can’t afford a gym, or I just don’t like the atmosphere of gyms to I don’t want to run or what’s the point of walking. There are endless versions of that excuse or complaints that I hear and have even at times in my life used.
So the question is then how do we change the mindset of movement or building a lifetime habit of exercise? This may sound strange, but, my thoughts took me back several decades to when I was thinking about what I was going to do for my career. The advice often given that many of you will recognize is if you pick what you enjoy you will never work a day in your life.
That is pretty profound and it is my belief that we can apply this to our exercise routines. If we choose to do something we love to do then our minds will just think playtime all the while our bodies are getting great workouts. So do you have to go to a sweaty gym or run a marathon? Not unless you like those activities. Instead go for a walk with your partner or friends, go out for a hike, take dance classes, fire your landscaper and do your own yardwork. When thinking of it this way everyone will find something that is a fantastic lifelong exercise habit without ever feeling they have worked out a day in their life.
Related to those musings I wanted to share the book I am reading this week: Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman. (check out the Kindle edition: http://amzn.to/2DHvynS) She basically dives into the fact that our genes are programmed for movement. Part of the problems we face today boil down to the fact that we simply don’t move anymore. Katy presents us with practical information about how we move and in ways that have no relation with traditional exercise. This has been a fantastic read so far and I suggest everyone check it out.
My name is Travis, and I am here to heal myself