Motion Is Life: How to Approach Exercise in a Functional, Primal Way
Motion is truly "life".
Our bodies crave motion.
Our brains are "driven" by motion of the joints.
This is called proprioception - movement neurology, essentially.
It's the real reason why exercise and motion make us feel good, happy and alive.
We should strive to become "movers".
Here's the thing.
We don't need to do hardcore exercise in order to become effective movers.
We don't need to become marathon runners, or power weight lifters, or elite athletes of any sort in order to express healthier cell function.
We benefit greatly from a variety of movement forms.
It's hard to go wrong with exercise, honestly.
We do best when our overall exercise and movement routine is based on 3 basic components: 1) Variety - Mix things up to challenge different components of your physiology, as well as to prevent boredom and plateaus.
2) Intensity - Not all movement needs to be "intense", but you should incorporate some challenging motion in your overall routine.
Challenge is good.
It stretches us mentally and physically.
3) Consistency - Rather self-explanatory.
If motion is critical for brain health and, therefore, overall healthy function, then it makes sense that we should partake in activity on a very regular basis.
Intentional movement on a daily basis is ideal.
When our intention is simply to live a long, healthy life (as opposed to training at elite levels for a specific sport) what types of motion should we incorporate and how often should we do them? I focus on 7 main areas of movement in designing an overall exercise routine: 1) Simple moves - Slow & steady, as often as possible.
I believe that we should be able to move without a struggle.
This type of simple movement includes the basics, like going for regular walks, taking the stairs more often, and parking the car further away from the door.
We should be able to accomplish this simple level of activity on a daily basis, without aches and pains, and without resorting to our whiny pants.
2) Simple moves - A little more challenging, a little less often.
The next step is to ramp it up a bit and elevate your heart rate.
Much has been said in recent years about the negative consequences of prolonged elevation of heart rate (as in long-distance, steady state, low-to-moderate intensity exercise).
So, instead of the old-school cardio work outs being at the forefront of our exercise routines, we can back off on those a bit and pay closer attention to working below our maximum heart rate.
How do you calculate your maximum heart rate and your targeted range for aerobic activity? It's not as simple as the old stand-by equation of 220 - your age.
Science has evolved! It's still pretty close, though.
I'd recommend you go here to get a more specific calculation of your maximum heart rate.
Then, you can calculate 55 - 75% of this maximum heart rate.
This will be your target range for this level of aerobic activity.
(If this sounds like a pain, just do the 220 - your age! Then figure 50-80% of that number.
Work in that range, depending on your current condition.
For those of you who want more accuracy, and exercise specificity, use the link above.
) Do this level of exercise a couple times per week.
Great examples are: going for a brisk walk, a bike ride, hiking uphill, swimming, easy jogging, rollerblading, ice skating, easy rowing, stand up paddling...
any activity that is slightly challenging, but keeps you in the target range.
3) Resistance & Lifting You've got to consistently work at getting and staying strong.
There are countless health-related reasons for this, such as decrease risk for falls, injuries and fractures, better posture, and even improved insulin sensitivity.
Also, there are the more 'superficial' reasons, like looking lean and toned, and the added benefit of lean muscle mass to burn fat and calories for you.
There's no need to over complicate this.
There are some basic body weight functional movements that will challenge you and get you noticeable results on the inside, and out.
For the lower body: Squats and lunges cover almost all your needs.
If you can add dead lifts to that duo, you're set.
Start easy - practice squatting by sitting down in a chair, and start lunges by holding onto a counter or chair back for balance.
As you gain strength, balance and confidence, you can add plenty of variety and challenge by playing with your stance, surface and stability, tempo, number of sets and repetitions, as well as recovery time between sets.
For the upper body: Pushing and pulling movements are the focus.
The leaders of the pack are push-ups, pull-ups, and overhead press.
If you can't yet swing a pull-up, I like rowing (pulling) type exercises.
Again, add variety and challenge by changing the surface, the placement of hands, tempo, etc.
Don't forget your core! Fortunately, when you're doing mostly functional and multi-joint exercises as listed above, you're naturally engaging your core on a regular basis.
When you do add specific core exercises, focus on adding full core challengers, like jack-knives on a ball, mountain climbers, planks, etc.
Now put these all together! Two or three times per week, do a variety of these functional exercises in a 10 - 25 minute session.
Be sure to include lower body, upper body, and core all in the same work out.
4) High-Intensity Challenge High-intensity, short-duration activities, like sprinting, provide a greater challenge.
Thankfully, they also provide greater results! High-intensity burst training burns more fat and calories over time than longer, steady-state cardio work outs.
They also create very positive changes in hormone balance, and improve insulin sensitivity.
You can accomplish all this with bursts as short as 5 seconds, working up to 10, 20, 30 seconds eventually.
What's not to love? Not all sprinting needs to be the running sort.
You can apply the same principles of high-intensity, short duration bursts to activities like cycling, swimming, stairs work outs, elliptical machines, climbing, rope jumping, vertical leaps, squat jumps, etc.
As long as you're giving it your maximum effort for short bursts of time, with short recovery periods in between, you'll benefit from this type of exercise.
Several sports inherently include these types of bursts.
Basketball, soccer, hockey, tennis, racquetball/squash, and lacrosse are just a few examples.
Do this type of activity a couple times per week.
It may only take you 5 or 10 minutes! 5) Brain & Balance Training Since the brain is so intricately connected to movement, particularly that of the spinal area, we can't overlook this critical component to our exercise routine.
Since the majority of proprioceptive input for the brain comes from the spine, hip joints, and ankle joints, try to move and challenge these often.
Think of these movements as "spinal hygiene", where the focus is to fully move and stretch all segments of the spine, as well as the pelvis and hips.
Another important component of this brain-building type of activity is to challenge your balance each day, even if it's as simple as standing on one leg for a few seconds at a time.
Bonus points if you stand on one leg while brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand with your eyes closed.
Do this some type of this activity daily.
6) Flexibility Being flexible not only helps prevent injury as we age, but it also allows us to more fully enjoy all activities we participate in with greater range of motion, less muscle strain and sprain, and better balance and agility.
This category is right up there with Brain & Balance Training.
Do some work on improving your flexibility each day.
7) Play The point of having a healthy body is to be able to put it to good use...
and to enjoy it! Investing in all these variations of motion on a regular basis isn't about having 6-pack abs or the perfect bikini body! It's about creating and re-creating a healthy body that will serve you well as you age...
so that you can serve in the way you seem fit.
If you want to play organized sports, play on a team, play a game at your annual family reunion, or just play with your kids at the park, a healthy body will allow that.
So, when you review this list, it looks like an enormous amount of movement and exercise to incorporate.
Not really.
Think of it like this: start your day with a few minutes of stretching and balance/brain work; walk your dog (or your kids) everyday; 3-4 times per week do something "cardio-related", adding bursts to a couple of those; 2 or 3 times per week, add some resistance exercise; and then, as often as possible, play! Invest in your body now, and each day from now on, and it will serve you well for many years.
It's the house you've been given to live in while you're here...
keep it clean and sturdy!
Our bodies crave motion.
Our brains are "driven" by motion of the joints.
This is called proprioception - movement neurology, essentially.
It's the real reason why exercise and motion make us feel good, happy and alive.
We should strive to become "movers".
Here's the thing.
We don't need to do hardcore exercise in order to become effective movers.
We don't need to become marathon runners, or power weight lifters, or elite athletes of any sort in order to express healthier cell function.
We benefit greatly from a variety of movement forms.
It's hard to go wrong with exercise, honestly.
We do best when our overall exercise and movement routine is based on 3 basic components: 1) Variety - Mix things up to challenge different components of your physiology, as well as to prevent boredom and plateaus.
2) Intensity - Not all movement needs to be "intense", but you should incorporate some challenging motion in your overall routine.
Challenge is good.
It stretches us mentally and physically.
3) Consistency - Rather self-explanatory.
If motion is critical for brain health and, therefore, overall healthy function, then it makes sense that we should partake in activity on a very regular basis.
Intentional movement on a daily basis is ideal.
When our intention is simply to live a long, healthy life (as opposed to training at elite levels for a specific sport) what types of motion should we incorporate and how often should we do them? I focus on 7 main areas of movement in designing an overall exercise routine: 1) Simple moves - Slow & steady, as often as possible.
I believe that we should be able to move without a struggle.
This type of simple movement includes the basics, like going for regular walks, taking the stairs more often, and parking the car further away from the door.
We should be able to accomplish this simple level of activity on a daily basis, without aches and pains, and without resorting to our whiny pants.
2) Simple moves - A little more challenging, a little less often.
The next step is to ramp it up a bit and elevate your heart rate.
Much has been said in recent years about the negative consequences of prolonged elevation of heart rate (as in long-distance, steady state, low-to-moderate intensity exercise).
So, instead of the old-school cardio work outs being at the forefront of our exercise routines, we can back off on those a bit and pay closer attention to working below our maximum heart rate.
How do you calculate your maximum heart rate and your targeted range for aerobic activity? It's not as simple as the old stand-by equation of 220 - your age.
Science has evolved! It's still pretty close, though.
I'd recommend you go here to get a more specific calculation of your maximum heart rate.
Then, you can calculate 55 - 75% of this maximum heart rate.
This will be your target range for this level of aerobic activity.
(If this sounds like a pain, just do the 220 - your age! Then figure 50-80% of that number.
Work in that range, depending on your current condition.
For those of you who want more accuracy, and exercise specificity, use the link above.
) Do this level of exercise a couple times per week.
Great examples are: going for a brisk walk, a bike ride, hiking uphill, swimming, easy jogging, rollerblading, ice skating, easy rowing, stand up paddling...
any activity that is slightly challenging, but keeps you in the target range.
3) Resistance & Lifting You've got to consistently work at getting and staying strong.
There are countless health-related reasons for this, such as decrease risk for falls, injuries and fractures, better posture, and even improved insulin sensitivity.
Also, there are the more 'superficial' reasons, like looking lean and toned, and the added benefit of lean muscle mass to burn fat and calories for you.
There's no need to over complicate this.
There are some basic body weight functional movements that will challenge you and get you noticeable results on the inside, and out.
For the lower body: Squats and lunges cover almost all your needs.
If you can add dead lifts to that duo, you're set.
Start easy - practice squatting by sitting down in a chair, and start lunges by holding onto a counter or chair back for balance.
As you gain strength, balance and confidence, you can add plenty of variety and challenge by playing with your stance, surface and stability, tempo, number of sets and repetitions, as well as recovery time between sets.
For the upper body: Pushing and pulling movements are the focus.
The leaders of the pack are push-ups, pull-ups, and overhead press.
If you can't yet swing a pull-up, I like rowing (pulling) type exercises.
Again, add variety and challenge by changing the surface, the placement of hands, tempo, etc.
Don't forget your core! Fortunately, when you're doing mostly functional and multi-joint exercises as listed above, you're naturally engaging your core on a regular basis.
When you do add specific core exercises, focus on adding full core challengers, like jack-knives on a ball, mountain climbers, planks, etc.
Now put these all together! Two or three times per week, do a variety of these functional exercises in a 10 - 25 minute session.
Be sure to include lower body, upper body, and core all in the same work out.
4) High-Intensity Challenge High-intensity, short-duration activities, like sprinting, provide a greater challenge.
Thankfully, they also provide greater results! High-intensity burst training burns more fat and calories over time than longer, steady-state cardio work outs.
They also create very positive changes in hormone balance, and improve insulin sensitivity.
You can accomplish all this with bursts as short as 5 seconds, working up to 10, 20, 30 seconds eventually.
What's not to love? Not all sprinting needs to be the running sort.
You can apply the same principles of high-intensity, short duration bursts to activities like cycling, swimming, stairs work outs, elliptical machines, climbing, rope jumping, vertical leaps, squat jumps, etc.
As long as you're giving it your maximum effort for short bursts of time, with short recovery periods in between, you'll benefit from this type of exercise.
Several sports inherently include these types of bursts.
Basketball, soccer, hockey, tennis, racquetball/squash, and lacrosse are just a few examples.
Do this type of activity a couple times per week.
It may only take you 5 or 10 minutes! 5) Brain & Balance Training Since the brain is so intricately connected to movement, particularly that of the spinal area, we can't overlook this critical component to our exercise routine.
Since the majority of proprioceptive input for the brain comes from the spine, hip joints, and ankle joints, try to move and challenge these often.
Think of these movements as "spinal hygiene", where the focus is to fully move and stretch all segments of the spine, as well as the pelvis and hips.
Another important component of this brain-building type of activity is to challenge your balance each day, even if it's as simple as standing on one leg for a few seconds at a time.
Bonus points if you stand on one leg while brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand with your eyes closed.
Do this some type of this activity daily.
6) Flexibility Being flexible not only helps prevent injury as we age, but it also allows us to more fully enjoy all activities we participate in with greater range of motion, less muscle strain and sprain, and better balance and agility.
This category is right up there with Brain & Balance Training.
Do some work on improving your flexibility each day.
7) Play The point of having a healthy body is to be able to put it to good use...
and to enjoy it! Investing in all these variations of motion on a regular basis isn't about having 6-pack abs or the perfect bikini body! It's about creating and re-creating a healthy body that will serve you well as you age...
so that you can serve in the way you seem fit.
If you want to play organized sports, play on a team, play a game at your annual family reunion, or just play with your kids at the park, a healthy body will allow that.
So, when you review this list, it looks like an enormous amount of movement and exercise to incorporate.
Not really.
Think of it like this: start your day with a few minutes of stretching and balance/brain work; walk your dog (or your kids) everyday; 3-4 times per week do something "cardio-related", adding bursts to a couple of those; 2 or 3 times per week, add some resistance exercise; and then, as often as possible, play! Invest in your body now, and each day from now on, and it will serve you well for many years.
It's the house you've been given to live in while you're here...
keep it clean and sturdy!