Okay, now I’m confusing you.
I just told you yesterday that striving for fat loss wasn’t enough for optimal health and fitness. Then I recommended you move in the direction of improving your strength and performance.
So, why aren’t strength and conditioning enough in the fitness realm?
What gives??
Well, strength and conditioning are the main reasons we exercise, right? We are constantly striving to be stronger, more athletic, and more robust in all areas fitness.
BUT…
If we have imbalances, asymmetries, compensations and dysfunctions within the foundation of our movement (picture the base of a human pyramid), then piling a bunch of strenuous exercises on top of our unstable pyramid will surely make it come tumbling down.
Meaning- if you have past injuries that never fully healed, limited freedom of movement because of poor posture, or maybe you’ve even involved yourself in an unbalanced, improper training program… you probably don’t move as well as you should.
And when you start to move more (like when exercising) OR add weight to your limited movement, you are only gonna make the problem worse.
You are going to injure yourself. You are going to develop other compensations. You are going to have to deal with constant pain.
Believe me, I know.
Even the smallest dysfunction will blow up into a BIG problem when you ignore it and think that simply “working out” will fix it.
My own puny dysfunctions were absolutely compounded into bigger, preventable problems. And, NO, having incredibly impressive strength and high levels of conditioning did not “fix” them. It made them worse.
If I would’ve just taken the time to fix the foundation of my movement… To loosen up the joints that were unnecessarily tight, to stabilize the body parts that were too lazy, to improve the quality of my muscles and to work on full range of motion outside of an intense exercise program… I would’ve prevented the time-consuming backpedaling I’ve had to do this year.
Lesson learned.
And for you, these are the main messages:
*Make sure the foundation of your movement is solid before you go on an all-out badass spree.
*Make sure you continue on with a recovery/maintenance program to maintain your movement quality while you go for those strength and conditioning records.
The better you move, the more you can achieve in the fitness world. The less inhibited you will be. Stronger. More conditioned.
You will be unstoppable!
Right on, Kim! And once again, we are reminded of the importance of having SKILLED people who can help us assess the condition of our foundation and provide solutions for correction.
I agree with you, but perhaps I would add that unless there is something extremely erroneous in our basics any movement toward healthy habits will probably do you much more good than any non-activity could.
And while your strength build up in spirit and body, knowledge should be searched to be sure that bad habits get eliminated and/or transformed into good habits.
So basically acquiring knowledge about oneself goes hand in hand with introducing elements of movement one kind or another
Oh, I completely agree with you, Oyvind.
Any action we take toward eating better, being more physically active, and just making healthier choices in general is a step in the right direction, for sure. Much better than doing nothing!
But my point is that many people, because of the typical stressors of modern society (for instance, sitting at a desk, hunched over a computer day in and day out), have developed limitations and dysfunctional movement patterns. Simply adding movement and strength training will NOT fix those limitations and dysfunctions. They will persist, worsen the more we solidify them into our exercise routine, and eventually cause injury.
When adding activity, I'm suggesting that strength training should not be the only focus. Regaining balance and eliminating imbalances is also just as important.
And while I also agree with you that having knowledge and awareness of our own personal issues is key, just knowing is only half the battle. People have to take active steps in order to eliminate bad patterns/habits and retrain the optimal patterns/habits… so that they can continue to move and be healthy for the remainder of their existence! I have encountered a ton of folks who KNOW, but don't DO.
Thanks so much for your comment, Oyvind. Hope you return with more feedback soon