The Evolution of Movement
In learning about the body, the mind, the brain and the nervous system the one concept that ensures overall health is a conscious ongoing exploration of The New!
- The New stimulates!
- The New causes adaptation!
- The New creates novel responses!
How long have you been doing the same routine in your fitness program? How long have you been doing the same movements?
The body, like the mind, constantly craves to learn. Part of the fun in learning new information is experiencing how its application can benefit your life.
The body is the part of us that interacts with the environment through movement. The body has an innate intelligence that constantly looks to improving the efficiency of its operations, conserve energy and maximize resource.
Early movement evolution began when you learned to crawl and advanced to: walking, running, skipping, bounding and so on. Evolution continued as we entered gyms and exercise classes where new movements were learned such as: squatting, lunging, pressing, lifting etc…
Your movement evolution needs to continue. Doing the same exercises in the same order without progression creates body boredom. Boredom causes your body’s attention to wander. To change, grow and learn the body needs to experience stimulation that it is not used to performing. From this, the desired results of increased metabolism, decreased fat and improved aesthetics will arise.
Variables to change in order to challenge your body:
- Intensity - vary the amount of weight/resistance, speed or effort at which you exert yourself. Pay attention to the amount of stress in your life and the tension in your body. Sometimes blowing off steam is good way to release your body’s tension while at other times less intensity is the way to go.
- Mode – try different types of exercise. I.e. weight lifting, treadmill, stationary bike, classes, etc…
- Order – change the order of your routine.
- Duration – Increase the amount of time you do an exercise. I.e. perform extra reps or run for a longer period of time.
- Mind – learn to apply your mind’s ability to focus on the movements that you want your body to perform. The harder the activity is the more you will need to focus.
- Core - learn exercises that challenge your ability to stabilize your core and strengthen your periphery (arms and legs) such as:
- Using a balance board or dyna disc
- Single leg exercise combined with upper body exercises
- Stability ball
Even more advanced variables are based in understanding how the body functions.
- To give yourself a in-the-gym functional mental picture, learn how the muscles attach to the bones.
- Visualizing these images during exercise helps to improve the efficiency at which you move and creates a better awareness of your body in space.
- Understanding what muscles are made of (protein) and how they mechanically function will help you to develop and maintain a deeper functional understanding.
Learning new movements benefits not only your body but also your mind. Since the body and mind is an integrated system, learning new physical movements will also stimulate the mind to think in new ways.
The body is an amazingly fascinating mechanism! Take the time to appreciate its functional beauty and it will turn your appreciation into quality movement that will last you a lifetime. Aging is deterioration of the body’s function. Constant exposure to new movements will keep your body feeling young, healthy and vibrant.
Mr. Sheldon Ginsberg President of FitPath Health Services holds a Bachelors of Science in Exercise Science from State University of New York at Buffalo. In addition, he has obtained advanced certification as a Strength and Conditioning Coach from the National Strength and Conditioning Association and he is also a 12th level Reiki Master Teacher. To learn more you can visit www.thefitpath.net or call 305-785-2936.
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