More Than Exercise

 We aren't all natural athletes. If we're being honest, most of us aren't. Natural athletes just seem to get it. They have what my old martial art teacher called physical intelligence. The awareness of the body and how to engage it, both at rest and in motion, that makes things look easy. If you've ever watched an amazing play in any sport that looked so effortless that your first thought was "I think that I could do that", then you saw a display of physical intelligence. Some of you might have taken it one step further and tried to reproduce that movement; and realized just how difficult that it was.

We do not remember the difficulty we overcame to stand for the first time. It has been so long since we took our first steps that we have lost touch with the memory of being so unsteady that we might fall down. What we remember is the effortlessness and joy of moving when we were children; and how good it felt to run around and play games. But we spent hours on our first movements, building endurance and strength, learning how to balance, and the timing to put it together. That is what gave us the capability to run around all day. Now that there are other responsibilities in life, we cannot go back to those carefree days of our early childhood (or move the same; some bones are fused together in adults that are jointed as children). But the more skilled we become at moving, the longer we can retain our ability to move freely, gracefully, and without pain.

We say the words exercise and workout. But I think those words are misleading and emphasize the wrong aspect of physical training. I'd argue that they are all actually a poor substitute for the word that we used as when we were kids, PRACTICE. If you've been following this blog or have talked to me in person, then you know that I believe that movement is the skill that keeps us healthy and feeling young. A skill that can be refined and gradually made more efficient through mindful effort. Practice is the act of refinement. Proper form and technique reinforce correct movement patterns and will improve your abilities and give you new ones, just as improper technique will just as surely lead to compensation and injury. The more fluid and practiced the movement, the easier it gets. If you do not have a sound technical foundation for your movements, then you will never reach your potential. It will be much harder to reach your goals. You will only get better if you challenge yourself, strive to improve; and you will know if you are practicing correctly when you notice that improvement. You will also know when your body has had enough for the day (I was better at this ten minutes ago..), or when it is better to take an extra rest day or train something else instead (My legs have been sore all week). Everything becomes easier with practice.


So make every workout into a practice. It's not how far you run that matters, it's how smoothly and efficiently you get there (Do not get me started on treadmill stomping!). It's not about how much weight you can squat if you cannot land softly from a jump. In fact, if you've been working out for years and you're still doing the same basic routine at the gym as when you started; you are shortchanging yourself. Do you even know how far you can jump or how fast you can run? What about swimming? Can you climb? Can you throw a ball accurately? From how far? With your other hand? The questions are endless. Break out of a mundane routine and try to answer a few of them. You will learn more about yourself. It will challenge your body in a different way and can be fun. But don't get discouraged if something new is difficult. Ask for help if you don't understand it. Break down the activity into its basic motions, and then practice. Build upon the foundation of fundamental movements and embrace the fact that it will not be easy in the beginning. It will take time to improve. But remember, the only way to be better tomorrow is by practicing today.