Our fall series on optimizing overall health began last month with nutrition.  Hopefully you have been able to take a few steps in this area of health…remember, a little goes a long way and if you need help we are only a phone call away!  And just like nutrition, small amounts of exercise & movement when done the right way can go a long way.

As many of you may already have experienced there is a mass amount of research on the benefits of exercise.  From decreasing risk of many diseases & surrounding medical complications, improving stress management & mood, boosting metabolism and circulation,  improving energy levels and more it seems that exercise would be a no brainer for most people.  But if you are like most people you have become frustrated with the one of the major reasons you wanted to exercise…TO LOOK BETTER.  This is not a bad thing as part of your self-esteem is not only feeling good but looking good.  We will try the million different exercise programs out there to see which one will be our “golden ticket” to look like the Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie.  Well I am going to tell you a little secret.  It is easier than you think.  Exercise, is not as much about WHAT you are doing as it is  HOW you are doing it.  Body awareness and understanding how you move is bigger than you think.

Body awareness type of exercise has been around for decades and even centuries.  Body awareness in it’s most simplist definition is to be able to “feel” how you are moving or holding a position.  Yoga, pilates and Feldenkrais are to just name of few that incorporate body awareness into their programs. Yoga (working on flexibility and strength in sustained holds), Pilates (engaging what they have coined the “power house”) and Feldenkrais techniques (small movements laying down to aid in improving movement & decreasing pain) may address different components of health & fitness but they all incorporate “feeling” and breathing to aid in improving quality of movement and isolation of specific muscle groups.  This is why the effectiveness of these 3 is absolutely amazing.  The more specific we are at  what we are working the more effective we will be.

Let me make a even more common example for you. Abdominal crunches.  Most of us have tried these and pride ourselves on being able to do 300 of them.  But I can’t tell you how many of those same people are still frustrated with their waist size and now have  pain from doing them wrong.   Majority of people use momentum and their hip flexors to complete a crunch along with thinking about their grocery list or anything else for that matter besides what they are truly trying to work.  Instead, visualize the abdominals.  If you don’t really know what they look like get an anatomy book!  Once you visualize and are thinking about the abdominals engage this area by drawing in the belly button & ribs along with exhaling on the way up. Rememer, visualize & engage first before coming up.  By doing this we are able to isolate the abdominals more effectively.  By implementing this technique of visualization, engaging the area and breathing you can become even more effective in all areas of your workout.  Whether it be walking on a treadmill or doing bicep curls while engaging your abdominals or taking a Pilates class, you will have to spend less time at the gym to get the job done.  Fluidity Physical Therapy incorporates these type of exercises into your program.  These exercises are a beautiful way to to compliment the alternative & integrative manual therapy at our clinic and transition you into the life you want to live outside our walls…the life you deserve!

So say good bye to 300 sit-ups and 3 hours at the gym!  You can feel better AND look better by incorporating body awareness into your program.  Remember what you focus on is what you will engage.  The power of the mind is an amazing thing…use it to your advantage!

To your health,

Jennifer