This is a new year like no other. Chances are you are looking a little harder at your New Year’s Resolutions for 2021. With the time you had for self-reflection in 2020, what have you decided are the big changes you are going to make beginning January?
While some resolutions may have nothing to do with fitness or wellness, chances are at least one does. As you may already know, fitness and wellness goals are typically the first to be abandoned shortly after they’ve begun. We are dedicated to helping you stay on track with your goals with three practices to ensure consistency and positive results.
Practice stretching daily, even if it’s for 5-10 minutes.
Your body is an amazing feat of bioengineering that has an amazing memory. Movement and posture habits become hard to break. As you do something repeatedly, like walking with outwardly turned feet or slouching when you sit, your body recognizes these habits as your accepted pattern of movement. Once this happens, it takes ten times as many repetitions to correct it and re-teach your nervous system. This is where stretching becomes so important. The idea that stretching is for rehabilitation is only partly true. While, yes, it is extremely important to maintain flexibility and mobility in your muscles and joints when rehabbing an injury, it is exponentially more important to recondition your body so that injury is far less likely to happen. This is done with heavy focus on form and repetition, as repeating the correct motion will increase the body’s ability to perform that skill subconsciously (“Repetition is the mother of all skills provided there is skill in the repetition”-Paul Chek). Balanced, subconscious movement is the goal. If your body and nervous system are in sync, then your chance of injury decreases tremendously as each muscle and joint is in line performing its correct action.
Try to incorporate strength training, if that’s not for you, just move your body!
The best way to ensure that your body’s flexibility and mobility is maintained is by using your muscles in their full range of motion through exercise and movement. This will bolster your body awareness and strengthen your joints and muscles in their correct range of motion. Flexibility and mobility are extremely important but so is stability and strength as it helps facilitate proper posture as well as your body’s proper subconscious response to stimulus. Taking a more holistic approach to reconditioning your body will be more beneficial for you in the long run as you will be more flexible and mobile with stronger joints and muscles to support that pliability. It’s important to remember that strength training is not for everyone, so do your best to get out there and move. Keep in mind that introducing weights into your exercise regiment, even one day a week, will dramatically improve joint, muscle and bone strength.
Find a professional to help create a plan of action.
Starting this process can be confusing and discouraging, especially for those who are just embarking on their fitness and recovery journey. Getting in front of quality personal trainers and therapists to help provide you with a plan of action is a great way to ensure you do the following:
- Performing exercises correctly.
- Treating imbalances with proper flexibility, mobility and strength training.
- Avoiding unnecessary or harmful exercises or activities.
Fitness is hard enough without having to unravel the physiological properties of the human body. It’s important to remember that you are not alone , and you don’t have to do this by yourself. There are millions of people starting on day 1 just like you and even the strongest and most flexible person in your gym started right where you are now. The strong and flexible stay that way through practice, consistency and more likely than not, reaching out for help when they need it. This is why we got into this business in the first place: We want to help people get better. Making your resolutions a new lifestyle starts here, and we’re ready when you are.
Written by Conner Fritchley. Conner is a Stretch Therapist and LYMBR Academy Instructor.
