Why does movement matter?

If I eat healthy and go to the gym, every now and again, is that not enough?
What does moving have to do with my skin rash, autoimmune disease or my mental and emotional health?

It is a bit ironic that someone with the word "exercise" in his title, is constantly telling people that working out is not mandatory for good health. A necessary amount of movement, however, is mandatory for optimal health.

Your body and musculoskeletal system are like the engine that makes your vehicle (body) move, and, if you are not using that engine enough, the rest of the components of that vehicle will start to deteriorate. There are two common mistakes I hear when it comes to movement; one being, “Well, I go to the gym and workout, so I am getting enough movement in,” and the second being, “What does movement have to do with the rest of my health?” Let’s clear up some of this confusion and find out how we can move our way to better health.

In part 1 of this Movement Matters series, we are going to tackle the misconception of that first one—going to the gym provides me with enough movement.

In the course of human history, exercise and working out, are relatively a very new concept. However, we have always relied on our movement for survival; whether it was moving our bodies to forage for, or track and hunt for our food, then prepare it to, finding and building shelter, crafting tools, and fighting off enemies. Moving our own bodies was at the center of all these activities. As life has become simpler due to more conveniences, the necessity to move our own bodies to accomplish these things has become less and less. However, our DNA still craves movement for the sake of optimal health.

In today’s world we require less movement to survive and we have jobs and recreational activities that keep us more and more stagnant. We now have replaced all that movement with short bursts of workouts. The problem with that? The human body was not developed to be still for 20+ hours a day then suddenly workout like a mad man for an hour or two. One of the best examples of this came in 2017. Scientists took the bones of prehistoric women and compared them to CT scans of bones of both athletes and regular students at the University of Cambridge. The results showed that the arm bones of the prehistoric women were 30% stronger than those of typical students and up to 16% stronger than those of Cambridge’s elite rowers who were practicing twice a day. So, the daily movement of these prehistoric women, who probably didn’t even know what working out was, had a better strength outcome than an elite athlete today. It doesn’t matter how hard you are working in the gym, if you are not moving the rest of the day, you probably are not at an optimal physical level—and more importantly are not getting enough variety in your movement. Which brings me to the next point.

The other common mistake in this realm that I hear is, “Well I go to the gym, but I know I just need to fix my posture to help with my _____.” The problem is, you are looking at posture like it is a static position that can just be fixed with another static position. Ok, so, let’s try this: stand up with “perfect” posture. Chest up, shoulders back, hips and head neutral; now don’t move, just hold that position. It will take a different amount of time for each individual, but even in that “perfect” posture, eventually something is going to start hurting. Some muscles are going to get tired, start burning, and then, start yelling at you for not letting them move.

Going into a “bad” posture is not a problem for the body. If I push my head forward, round my back, rotate my hips; these are all just expressions of movement that our bodies are capable of performing. The problem exists with the amount of time spent in this posture and not moving out of it into other positions. The brain seeks variety when it comes to movement, but in order to conserve energy, it will start to limit the bodies range of motion in areas that are no longer ever used. This is why we get tight and stiff as we age and our postures seem to get worse. It is because we are not getting enough variety with our movement. We no longer take our joints through all the range of motions they are capable of and our bodies are paying the price for it.

I get asked all the time, “Which Movement Monday video will help fix this?” Or, “I’m having pain here, so which Movement Monday video do I need to look at?” My answer is usually the same—it depends, and, probably all of them! Without assessing a person, I can’t tell you which 60-second video will be the magic cure for your ailment. What I can say, for sure, is that you need to move your whole body more and these videos are just ideas and examples of ways to get more variety in your day. This is also why we started offering Prehab classes. They are to help guide you through ways of moving your body and to help make sure all the parts are working together. The “working together” aspect is why we are changing things up with our Prehab classes.

From now on, the Prehab classes will no longer be body part specific (i.e.: shoulder class, hips class, foot/core class). Instead, the new Prehab classes will focus on all those parts working together. You can expect a class designed to help you gain mobility, increase body awareness, build strength and stability in your joints, and, connect with your inner warrior as you flow with a wooden mace. We want to move with you on your journey, so let us know what you would like to see more of. More class times? Movement outdoors in nature? How to move with your kids? More in depth videos of movement practice?

Movement Matters Part Two, will focus on how movement is connected with every other aspect of health in our bodies, but for now, let us help you move well, so you can Live Free. —Paul

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Movement Matters: Part One