The Zombie Apocalypse
6:02am. Friday morning.
The harsh glare of overhead fluorescent lighting shines on a room full of machines, and the air is thick with moisture.
Countless rows of lifeless bodies can be seen dripping sweat as they cycle on uniform rows of elliptical machines, never actually getting anywhere. These zombies mindlessly endure the self-inflicted torture of repetitive movement as they seek any distraction they can find. Some are listening to music, some are talking on the phone, some are trying to watch tv. And some can even be seen trying to read books and magazines while bouncing up and down in a hopeless display of persistence.
Their bodies haven’t changed in years.
Neither have their exciting “30min of elliptical” exercise routines.
Not only do these people have a terrible relationship with exercise (enduring punishment driven by guilt), but they are missing out on the opportunity to make fresh neural connections in the brain through their exploration of movement.
These are the connections of learning that help you use your body more effectively.
Your brain makes these connections in your nervous system to improve your ability to recruit your muscles, coordinating them skillfully and with greater strength. Over time, this is what actually makes exercise enjoyable – building a confidence and ease of movement.
And these zombies are missing out on all of it.
I commonly hear how hard it is to stick to an exercise program.
Hm. I wonder why…
Keeping Your Workouts Honest
After Philly.com voted me Philly’s Next Top Trainer in 2016, we shot a video series.
The theme of the series?
How To Keep Your Workouts Honest.
Like the zombies described above, I realized many people hide from truly experiencing the full ranges of their movement as they rush through their exercises in the gym.
This prevents the fat-loss crowd from producing enough “work” in their workouts to make the metabolic changes they’re after.
It also prevents the muscle-building crowd from fully stimulating their muscles enough to grow.
So no matter your goal, I’m here to share with you one of the most important rules I teach my trainees:
“When it gets hard, slow down.“
This runs contrary to our natural instincts that want to speed up, to rush past the discomfort. Reprogram this instinct – let the discomfort simmer.
Is it because I’m just another sadistic fitness trainer? Hardly.
By slowing down, you allow yourself to truly experience the movement, to gain control over it. In doing so, you are reprogramming your brain and teaching it to manage stress while staying calm through coordinating a challenging movement.
In these videos, I’ll show you a method I use to help my trainees understand the ranges of their movement.
