Body Movement

When exercising for the first time, we do not move our bodies correctly. We may be able to go through proper looking motions, but truly and fully engaging our muscles comes with time and practice. When most people enter a gym for the first time, they assume with a little bit of exercise they will get great results. Within a few weeks they assume their body will look entirely different. They also assume the best way to change their body is by beating it up and breaking it down through overexertion. These assumptions are not entirely accurate: with a little bit of exercise over a long period of time, we can get great results and breaking down our muscles is necessary but we often only break them down one way, and in such a way that our bodies don't get a chance to recover.

Speed. It's the most commonly assumed part of exercise. If it isn't done fast and if I don't get my results quickly, then its not worth doing. Exercise without results is heartbreaking and deeply frustrating, but just because it feels like we're getting nowhere does not mean that we aren't growing. It may mean that we are discovering ways in which our body won't grow. Which means we need to change our methods, or it means that we are focusing on external and easily visible growth. Which means there is such a thing as internal and not readily visible growth.

Flexibility and balance are two examples of internal and almost invisible growth. Looking at two people on the street, we have no idea how flexible they are or how good their balance is. When we think of muscle development, we often overlook these areas, in part because we don't take pictures of balance and flexibility; they aren't considered attractive qualities on Facebook, we'd rather see someone's six pack. Yet balance and flexibility are two key components of stability: the sum total of forces that help us maintain good posture and health. Stability helps us maintain key changes in our body by providing a platform upon which we build everything else. The number one thing we need to build when going to the gym for the first time is stability, not mass or weight loss.

Why? Without stability we will not keep our mass and we will not keep our weight loss. There are plenty of quick options on the market to building mass and losing weight, but these quick and easy options do not last. Building stability is slow at first, but once we obtain it we can grow rapidly. Once our body has learned consistent stability, in various forms, we can then increase the load, frequency and duration of exercise. In short we can grow exponentially.

What happens if we try to grow exponentially and haven't build stability first? Injury and re-occurring injuries. Most injuries in the gym are due to lack of stability. We don't know how to move properly through our existing range of motion to strengthen and improve our range of motion. Too often we think if we push just a little harder and a little faster then we'll get the gains we desire. Once we know what we are capable of, having achieved a stable base, this is a decent way of increasing or decreasing our body size. Without knowing what we are capable of, this is a sure road to injury, frustration and quitting.

Some of us are too stubborn to quit. We know we must keep moving, but at what price? The worse our injuries the more we need to slow down and build stability. Which means we may end up moving at the pace of a snail. The snail, for all its faults and failures, achieves its goal. It successfully moves from point A to point B. My encouragement for those who are struggling and unstable is to slow down and take some more time. Once we figure out how to move as a snail, we can start moving as faster creatures. We all have to start somewhere.