PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND AUTHENTIC HEALTH PART 1

This is my new series on the many benefits of physical movement. Our bodies and minds are designed for activity. Just think about how we’re made: muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, connective tissues, extremities. It’s clear that the physical use of our bodies is integral to the design of our body.

Use Your Body Properly

If you think of this from an ancestral standpoint, you’ll see that the human body adapted over millennia to engage in physical activities that promoted our survival. I’ve prescribed physical activity or exercise to my patients for the entire scope of my practice. Virtually everyone knows that they should exercise. The challenge is that it’s a form of work, that it can be fatiguing, that it can feel hard. For some, it also feels embarrassing. Many have bad memories from middle school or high school gym classes. A lot of people don’t enjoy being in gyms.

We tend to view the health aspect of physical activity as that of being exceptionally well-conditioned. Pop culture uses images of aesthetically pleasing physiques with six-pack abs performing incredible feats and training themselves in very intensive ways. Being well-conditioned can be associated with good health, but it is not a definition of good health. You don’t have to be exceptionally defined to be physically healthy; you just simply have to use your body properly.

Why Adopt a Daily Movement Practice?

Throughout this series, we’ll describe what it means to adopt a daily movement practice that gives you back your best health. That’s the goal of this series. If your goal is to get your best time for an IronMan competition, or to win at the CrossFit Games, then this series isn’t going to be your primary source of information. There are many other professionals writing and producing excellent training programs for that level of fitness. This is about promoting and protecting your authentic health.

My suggestions are geared toward providing a way to your longest and healthiest lifespan, and enjoying how you feel in your own body. This is not going to be directly related to your weight, although it will help you maintain it. It also isn’t specifically related to how you look in your bathing suit, although you’ll certainly improve the odds of looking the way you want to by adopting these habits.

This is about feeling good every day and feeling good about yourself. The pattern of activity I’m going to describe will feel refreshingly simple and liberating to many of you. Even well-conditioned individuals I see in my practice who’ve exhausted themselves with intensive exercise have often felt liberated when I’ve explained this paradigm of physical activity to promote their best health. They feel like they finally have the freedom to just relax a little and take it easy, not to always push themselves to their edge.

Is This Movement Something I Can Do?

I occasionally will suggest that we push our limits. That is a part of maintaining good health. But it will not be nearly as often as you think it has to be, nor will you have to join a gym or buy exercise equipment to follow this program. This is done with just your body and whatever your environment allows for you.

I understand that many people have limitations based on prior injuries, or perhaps conditions they were born with. Not everybody has the freedom of movement that a completely healthy, and normally developed human body would have. Some are confined to wheelchairs, some have conditions or injuries that really restrict their ability to use their body to the fullness of its design. That does not matter. This is for everyone. Whatever your current context of physical health and capability, you can apply these principles to improve your health. It will still work for you.

This series is the truth of physical health. It is based on our body’s design and genetics. You can then take it as far as you want to go. If you want to become a high-performing endurance athlete, or a powerful gymnast, then by all means, go for it. But this program is for everyone to serve as a foundation for good physical health.

We focus on overall body movement with a few key principles about how to maximize your use of your body and the potential that’s integral to its design. Follow along with us. There is so much to learn!

If you’re interested in learning more about physical movement or a more personalized approach to healthcare, order the book Authentic Health and like us on Facebook.