Everybody who knows me well, is aware exactly how much sport means to me. Everybody who has taken the time to observe my actions and listen to my words, probably realized, that the , meaning of my life is not helping people shape a sexy body and then wear tiny clothes, that show their sexiness.
Actually, the meaning I put in everything is a lot more profound. I sincerely believe that workouts are not just workouts. They are not just some time you spend in the gym, performing some kind of a physical activity with the mere goal to look better.
I do not train people, in order for them to look good. I train them, so they can actually start feeling good; in order to help them master the art of loving themselves and their life. I train them, in order to show them how much they are capable of and how there isn’t an obstacle, that couldn’t be overcome. The unachievable, becomes a reality, when it is put to the touch of persistence, hard work and goal orientation.
Sometimes, even though I play it cool on the outside, inside I am being indignant with people, who explain how a workout is just a pointless waste of energy, and that workouts cause more harm, than good.
That’s why today, I decided to share with you, how <!–more–>what I learned in the gym is actually improving the quality of my life and how by learning to move in the gym, you learn to move in your life.
Deadlifts
The exercise, which every uninformed person in the gym avoids. The exercise which every uninformed person, thinks is gonna ruin your back and cause a lot of pain.
I’ve said it a billion times, but deadlifts performed with correct technique, are the best exercise you could do.
Why?
Because deadlifts are one of the most natural movements, we perform.
How often do you happen to bend down, in order to pick up something from the ground and then feel a sharp pain in your lower back? I guess that it happens to you,at least a couple times every month.
Well, the reason behind it is the fact that you are not doing deadlifts and you haven’t learned the proper way to pick up objects from the ground.
In the gym, and actually in real life as well, the term bend down, DOES NOT EXIST!
By bending down, most people just “break” in their lower back in order to pick up something from the ground. Thus, you are taking away the opportunity of your muscles to perform their work and instead you are loading directly your lower back and often times this leads to an injury or some kind of discomfort.
Instead, every time you want to pick up something, you should HINGE, you should take your hips back. Always imagine, that behind you there is a wall and there is a couple inches between you and the wall. Now when you want to pick up your socks from the ground, a box or just your groceries, instead of breaking down in two, as if you are a straw, now I want you to hinge back. Take your hips back and you will feel how the muscles on your posterior chain are actively working. Well, this is gonna guarantee you, that the load is not directly in your lower back, but that your muscles are bearing it.
Squats
Now, when I squat, in order to pick up something or when I am waiting for somebody to come, and he is running late, and I decide to squat and take a rest, my knees do not hurt anymore. I do not squat on my toes and I do not look like a hot chick, who X crosses her legs, when she squats to pick up something. Now I know how to squat properly and I can stay in this position, without actually feeling tension in my knees or some kind of a big loading. Actually it even feels like a rest.
Now I know, how the weight is supposed to be distributed on my feet and that squats are one of the most natural, save movements, when you know how to perform them properly!
Presses
What did all kind of pressing movements taught me? Well, for every exercise in the gym, one of the most basic things is to keep your body tight in a neutral position. You should activate your abs’ muscles and the muscles on your butt, so you can make sure that the weight is gonna be bared by the muscles, not just by the joints. Now when I stand on the bus stop, waiting, I do not let my belly go forward and my hips to sink forward. Instead I stand tall in a neutral position.
Now, when I sit on the chair, I do not let my shoulders slip down and roll forward. Now I am trying to be more conscious and I always try to keep my shoulders back, my back straight and my belly tight. Just the way I perform every movement in the gym.
Now, while I am walking I am thinking about my gate, how I lay my feet on the ground and how I stand. I am being careful to distribute the weight on my feet evenly. Just the way I do, when I perform squats, lunges, deadlifts and so on. Because I learned that a lot of the pains come from the fact that we step with our feet pointing out, or inward. That most of our imbalances, are just being strengthened, when we sit with our feet pointing out or X shaped, or when we cross them on top of each other.
What did workouts taught me?
The efforts I make in the gym, helped me get a better feeling of how my body moves. I learned to feel the movements- how it feels when I do them right and how it feels when I do them wrong. I learned to consciously control my posture and my gate. I learned how to perform daily activities, by minimizing the risk of an injury, because of wrong moving patterns.
I learned that a big part of the pain, that most people have is not because of dangerous and incurable injuries. It is just because of their lack of information about the proper way to move their bodies.
I realized that I really wished more doctors, cared enough how they could apply in reality, what they’ve learned in the text books. That they would care enough, to tell people how to improve their posture, their movements, so they could improve the quality of their lives and decrease the injuries. I wish they did that instead of just prescribing a pill and imputing the feeling of dead-lock and irreversibility.
I learned that if more doctors realized, that working out is not an enemy of health, and that it is actually a mean for improving it, probably they would stop prescribing long prescriptions with pills and give stupid advises to be less active. Instead they could “prescribe” exercises and encourage people to be more active.
I learned that working out is not a waste of time. It is not a pointless waste of effort.
Instead working out is the most powerful tool we have, in order to stay healthy and increase the quality of our life and decrease the risk of injuries.
I learned that once again, workouts help me live better and give so much more value to everything else I do!
