Self Care Part 3

How do you train yourself? More importantly, how do you train yourself so that your exercise routine is safe, effective and intelligent?

People come to their exercise routines through various means: magazines, books, classes, personal training, watching people in the gym, taught by a family member, etc. There's lots of ways to learn and all of them can be useful and effective.

Unfortunately a lot of the information is useless or worse, harmful.

Sometimes the information is just plain incorrect but sometimes it's the wrong information used by the wrong person in the wrong way at the wrong time.

A personal comment: I've been on both sides. I've been a gym member for years (just joined another one this week), a personal training client on and off for years and a groupie extraordinaire of 1 particular group fitness instructor. I'm also a personal trainer, Bootcamp and Group Fitness instructor. As a gym member and client, I made many mistakes causing me significant pain and injury. As a fitness professional, I'm vigilant about keeping my clients safe and injury-free.

How does this help you? I think the ingredient often missing is wisdom. How well do you know yourself? Do you listen to your body? Are you present when you work-out (or in life even)? Answering these questions will go a long way towards helping you get the most of your exercising.

When I work with someone, whether it's a brand new member or a long term client, I look at how they use themselves, how they live in their bodies and what mental ideas they have about
themselves and exercising. Of course I want to know their health and medical background and whether they've had an injury or perhaps have a chronic condition. What are their physical limitations? And sometimes more importantly, what are their mental and emotional limitations?

I am a bear on form. I want to see certain biomechanical principles in action in the most effective way possible for a specific client. I recognize that every body is different and my clients won't necessarily look like the picture I have in my head of how I want an exercise performed. Many people have the similiar patterns of ineffective use of self.

For instance, some clients elevate the tops of their shoulders when they do upper body weight training. That is a no-no. Elevating the tops of the shoulders does not permit the proper muscles to work effectively when doing upper body weight training. However, lifting shoulders is also a common response to stress in our society particularly among women. I look for how clients and class members use their upper bodies, especially the area around their collarbones, front and back. If I have a client who lifts their shoulders and can't stop, I discontinue the exercise and work with them instead around developing more sensitivity to their upper back area. Why would I have them continue to do an exercise like a row or an assisted pull-up incorrectly? If they are not able to control their upper back, my job is to teach them how. Then they can go back to the other exercise and execute it properly. This process takes as long as it takes-days, weeks, whatever. I work towards reeducating their body to function at a higher, more optimal level. Some clients find that their neck and back pain diminishes significantly as a result.

I have a list in my brain of things I look for in people. Here's another example: most folks sit at a desk for work. Therefore they often slump, rounding their upper backs and rolling their shoulders forward. Ultimately this posture or use of self affects every function in their bodies. I am quite interested in teaching them how to change this. Especially since they will again be sitting at their desks tomorrow and most likely they will return to their original posture without even consciously recognizing it. Body positions affect emotions and emotions affect body positions. A slumped over position is not conducive to a happy, positive emotional state. Try it yourself and see. Fitness professionals often expound on the emotional benefits of exercise.
How about that effective use of self helps promote more positive emotional states? Interesting idea and not so far-fetched.

While we associate exercise with physical movement, exercise is also about intention and how you use yourself. You are either your own best friend or your own worse enemy. This is true for exercising as well as every other area of your life. All strengths (mental or physical) are weaknesses in other circumstances. Every weakness is a strength in a different situation. Yes, this sounds like a koan. Ponder the ideas for awhile. If your head starts to spin, sit down and ponder more.

I spend a lot of time evaluating which exercise is appropriate for each client and why. What are their goals? Where are they at right now, today-physically, mentally and emotionally?

How often do you evaluate what you are doing and why? What kind of wisdom do you bring to your life? We frequently are more perceptive about our friends and family than we are about ourselves. It's so much easier to see a quality (positive or negative) in someone else than to recognize it in ourselves. That's why another set of ears, ears and another brain is so worth-while, be it a best friend or a personal trainer.

I have many tools in my toolbox to help clients achieve their health and fitness goals. If you only have a hammer, you'll see a world comprised of only nails.

In health,

Laura