What are you doing in the gym?
What do you think of when your hear the word "workout". For many people, the word brings to mind a list of negative emotions: pain, self-loathing, intimidation, fear of failing, the burden of something you know you should do but have no internal motivation to achieve.
My approach to coaching and training has evolved significantly in the past 15-plus years. I've coached and treated athletes in team and individual sports, running, bodybuilding, MMA, power-lifting, Spinning (for those younger readers, "Spinning" is Soul Cycle without the candles), Olympic lifting, CrossFit, and "functional" training, I have been involved with-either personally or in training clients-just about every form of training.
What's the point? What should be our motivation to train? Why should we devote our time and energy to maintaining our physical well-being and the skills required to be human?
I propose this idea should be our daily motivation:
BE STRONG TO BE USEFUL
Does this mean we give up the desire to look good naked? No!
Does this mean we have to give up our dumbbell curls in the name of loyalty only to the things that make us functionally more useful? No!
What this does mean is that if you're training with no idea of why you're doing it beyond a vague commitment to be "more fit" or "to get in shape", you're wasting your time.
Physical training is similar to many other pursuits in life. If you don't go in with a concrete idea of why you're there and what you're trying to accomplish, the likelihood of sticking with it is low.
So how do we get out of "workout" mode and start training? And what should we be aiming for?
Here's our list, broken down into two categories. "Human Movement" and "Human Skills".
Learning, restoring, and refining these 16 movements and skills is our approach at Restore/Thrive. Training in this way allows us to follow an over-arching theme (becoming more skilled humans) with nearly limitless iterations of programming that can meet a variety of goals on a short and long-term basis.
Training should be fun, challenging, and empowering. When any of those elements are missing in your routine, it's time to re-assess what you're up to.
If you don't have a reference for what one of these movements or skills is, you've found a hole in your physical capacity as a human being. What does that mean? Essentially, you are giving up a fundamental movement or skill that allows you to perform better, avoid injury, and be fully capable.
If you’re interested in trying a well-designed training program that will make you a more capable human, you can message us at info@restorethrive.com to learn more about our Movement & Mobility Assessments or how to get signed up for a free 14-day trial of our online training programs through the TrainHeroic app.