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My father-in-law is a hilarious man! Whilst I think my wife may have heard his jokes a few many too times for them to still be as funny for her as they are for me, there is no doubt he is entertaining. One of his favourites, is to grab our 11-year Noah in what he calls the best grappling move in the world. He then tells Noah, “Get out of that without moving!” Noah freezes, dumbfounded by the effectiveness of the hold. “You see, you can’t do it!” . It’s a dad joke, but it’s funny!
What on earth has this got to do with fitness? Well, I wanted to write about movement! And Jeff’s words popped into my head, “Get out of that without moving!”
Get out of what without moving?
Well, for the sake of this article, let’s say, get out of that back pain you’ve always had without moving! Go on. Try! Oh, you have tried that! How did sitting down and resting work so far? Ah yes, your back is still bad!
Get yourself out of being overweight by not moving! Go on, sit on the sofa, drink diet shakes and think yourself skinny! Yeah, that doesn’t work either. Still overweight!
Get yourself out of being chronically immobile without moving! Stay stuck to that office chair. Slump right into it. Drive everywhere. Finding it easier to get around the world? Nope. Still stiff as a board.
You have to move! Each of those examples above is stuckness, is sedation, is total lack of momentum!
But move in what way? Well, walking and running are what you are designed to do! If you do them well and a lot, you’ll be far healthier. But the problem you have is that the stuckness you’ve allowed yourself to take on, makes both of those things difficult for you, and perhaps when you’ve had the inclination to start moving more, it quickly causes you an injury or initiates more pain.
You have to move properly. What does this look and feel like?
A head and neck that sits perfectly balanced on top of a spine that is aligned with your hips, knees and ankles.
Shoulders that swing easily back and forth.
Collar bones and shoulder blades that rotate at back and forth at the same time as your pelvis rotates the opposite way.
The ability to breath properly, using the diaphragm.
Smooth hip joints that allow the knee to travel forward and shin bones that swing through with the momentum.
And finally, wide, stable feet that allow you to glide across the ground and feel totally grounded in your environment.
Conventional fitness training. Weights, circuits etc may improve these somewhat, but to get to where you need to get to, a more intelligent approach is needed. Primal movement is the answer to that. It’s about moving in the way we’ve evolved to. It’s the physical process we go through as children. All things being equal, if you went through that as you should have, you should have few of the problems I’ve mentioned above. If things aren’t as they should be, you may need to go through it again. You need to re-train.
I include elements of primal movement is almost every session I design now. As time goes on, the number of exercises classed as “primal movement” that I programme is increasing. I have a constantly escalating awareness of their importance, so more and more I’m abandoning traditional squats and deadlifts with barbells for crawls and complex lunge and kettlebell swing variations.
And because I’m feeling the need to emphasise proper movement more and more, I’m now teaching a primal movement class (Press here to book) at 11am every Wednesday at Well Bath. If it is your first class at Well Bath, use the code INTROCLASS at checkout for a 50% discount. Each class will be totally different. I would love to see you there so I can help move you into a better relationship with your body. My father-in-law might even be there to teach you his famous hold.
Contact us to find out how we can help you. BOOK A FREE INITIAL CHAT.