Same Path…..Wrong Direction…..?

Whether its fitness, nutrition, mental health, daily activities, or simply the way we clean our house, we always get good at what we continually do. The error in this consistency is that we achieve a lot of practice at repeating the same patterns in every aspect of our lives. Many continue along the same path forever, not even recognizing what it is that they are doing, yet still wanting something different. This leads me to the SAID Principle.

Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. To sum it up, we get good at what we do. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just depends on our goals and what we are doing to achieve them. For example, if you would like to get better at being more physically active, then you must practice being more physically active. We can’t just think about it and hope it will come, we must put into action what our minds want us to achieve.

How about becoming more physically fit? I don’t know a single person who wouldn’t like to be in better “shape” than they are in now, but the difference is how individuals go about achieving this goal. In Z-Health, we practice moving the body in all positions and directions, in order to get the body good at “moving”. Without starting at the basics how are we going to have a solid foundation to build on? I have noticed this can be quite a misconception when working with new clients. For instance, would it be a good idea to introduce sliding backward lunges to an individual who has never performed a single exercise in their life? Or what about someone who complains of constant back pain; is it logical to have them perform back extensions to make their back “stronger”? Or, one of my personal favorites, individuals who feel they need to do a lot of abdominal work on a medicine ball because someone told them they need to work their “core” more. Are we really focused on the right things here?

If we really sit down and think, it is fairly obvious that if we don’t move our bodies consistently we will lose the ability to move certain parts. We must practice what we have a hard time doing so that it’s not that difficult anymore. Yet, many individuals perform mindless exercises because they have been told these exercises help you get in shape. Well if you ask me, “round” is a shape isn’t it? So what sort of shape are we talking about here?

Like I said before, “Crawl Before Run”. Learn how to move your body so you can safely perform more challenging exercises. Create the new habits that you want to be habits, and practice “letting go” of those patterns that bring you “down” (figuratively or literally).

Until next time.....Good Luck and Great Health!