Humans and Movement

This is for you couch potatoes, non believers in exercise, lazy (yes I said it) human beings. The people who think that the moving, endurance , yoga, pilates – folk are crazy.

Fact is, YOU are crazy. Humans are made to move. “Not moving” promotes dozens of chronic diseases.

Did you know that the average office worker sits for 13-15 hours a day! At the molecular level, the human body was designed to be active and “on the move” all day long. Stop moving for extended periods of time, and it’s like telling your body it’s time to shut down and prepare for death. Scary isn’t it?

According to Dr. Levine, “The very unnatural sitting posture is not only bad for your back, your wrists, your arms, and your metabolism, but it actually switches off the fundamental fueling systems that integrate what’s going on in the bloodstream with what goes on in the muscles and in the tissues”.  

“We have a brain for one reason and one  reason only — and that’s to produce adaptable and complex movements”. — Daniel Wolpert

The humans before us were able to climb mountains daily, were able to run hundreds of kilometers over plains, they could swim through lakes, jump, climb, skip..you name it! So what has happened?

Technology has happened. Think about it. Everything is way more accessible these days. Everything moves for us. We have cellphones to communicate(no need to walk to your friends house for a chat), we have cars to commute (even though we were born with legs), our food sits in shopping centers and local stores (no need to catch or forage or hunt).

“The body will become better at whatever you do, or don’t do. You don’t move? The body will make you better at NOT moving. If you move,
your body will allow more movement”.— Ido Portal

Being sedentary, immobile and lazy is not normal. Do you think we were made to sit at desks, in front of computers? Or on couches for hours on end? What you are doing is basically betraying and dishonouring your body.

The truth hurts. But so do bodies, bodies that are disrespected. Our spines and joints were made to twist and turn in most planes, are able to withstand forces and our cardiovascular system was made to handle endurance. A lack of this only brings on pain, disease and a whole host of problems. Blood sugar levels, blood pressure, cholesterol, and toxins all rise. The solution to these adverse events do not involve a prescription—all you need to do is get up, and avoid sitting down as much as possible.  As a general starting guideline, Dr. Levine suggests standing up for at least 10 minutes each hour. If you’ve been sitting down for a full hour, you’ve sat too long

So what is good movement?

I came across an article. The way that this guy described movement, I could have not said it better myself. 

“Exercise is Optional, Movement is Essential”. What is the difference? Exercise is a modern invention, an obligation or chore designed to give us a way out, a get out of jail free card that lets us believe three weekly trips to the gym lets us off the hook with our bodies. It is pain, rather than pleasure driven. It is generally focused on specificity and lacking in real skill development. Most exercise regimes use machines and isolated exercises that make us experts in movements that are not practical and are limited, to put it politely.

Movement is something entirely different. Movement is ancient. Movement was here first. Hunting and gathering, dancing round the fire, walking, climbing, running, jumping, crawling, lifting, swimming, fighting…even sex! These are all movements the human body is designed for. A lot of public health research now points towards needing more movement in our lives, as opposed to exercise to remain healthy. For example, no amount of exercise will undo the pathology that is sitting and remaining sedentary. And conversely, you could go your whole life without ever doing exercise but instead move as part of your everyday life and remain healthy. 

Thankfully there seems to be a shift in paradigms. More and more people are realising that we need more then exercise for aesthetic reasons alone, we even need more than so called “functional training. We need movement”.

Ben Medder you genius! http://www.benmedder.com/

Other articles I came across suggested the following:

The combination of high intensity training, non-exercise activiti
es like walking 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day, and avoiding sitting whenever possible.

Body weight exercises such as :

• Box squat
• Negative pull-ups
• Bowing-to-Buddha
• Forearm plank
• Push-up variations

Yoga, very good for increasing flexibility, building strength and increasing muscle tone. Evidence also suggests it can help improve heart health by reducing known risk factors for heart disease, such as weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Powerful yoga techniques include:

• Warrior pose
• Warrior twist
• Half moon
• Side plank, with and without lifted leg
• Crow pose

Even though I have only done 3 classes, I can really vouch for its benefits.

I have probably got a lot of you thinking. I may have possibly offended you? But seriously, I deal with people and problems on a daily basis, most injuries and pain coming from our lifestyles especially sitting in front of computers (those dreaded things, says me sitting at one right now). It frustrates me even more when I deal with people who don’t move. Who don’t use their bodies to their full potential. It’s not because they can’t, everyone can. It’s because they have made the choice not to.

Change the way you think. Choose movement that suits you. Movement that you enjoy, movement that your body loves and is able to do. Don’t use movement for external rewards. Cherish it!

“To wild animals, movement is not a chore, not a temporary punishment for being physically lazy and out of shape, not an optional activity just for better looks”.— Erwan Le Corre