Moving with purpose
Is your go-hard-or-go-home, faster, tougher, heavier exercise regime about to screw your body up?
I set up my practice because too many people were pushing through injury and pain during exercise, and it wasn’t working out for them. Somehow the philosophy of ‘push through the pain’ or ‘if its hurting then it’s doing something’ was the one everyone was going on. But it’s the most unsustainable way to think about exercising your body.
The body is a massive feedback loop, designed to keep all it’s interdependent parts (organs, nervous system, bones, muscles, fluids etc) stable & healthy, all the time. It is constantly managing our temperature, what food we’re digesting, what movements we’re making and much more. Imagine what it has to do to manage faulty movement, and better yet, faulty movement thatsbeing repeated. It’s takes a lot more effort to maintain balance and health which not only decreases your energy but also over time creates imbalances in your body, leading to pain. I still see this ‘go hard or go home’ philosophy today, 15 years later, after an industry boom and we need to do more to help find balance with exercise and make it more sustainable.
How do we do this? We focus gently and consistently on the principles of natural human movement. We turn inward and look curiously at our muscles and bones and how they function throughout our daily lives and we aim to improve their mechanics from the inside out. It’s not necessarily about the exercise its self, it’s deeper than that. It’s about the principle. Joseph Pilates, the founder of Pilates (originally, he called it Contrology but over the years it’s been better known as Pilates) said ‘focus on the principle of the movement as you perform it.’ I learnt this very early on and it’s still what guides me today.
It was the Pilates method that taught me about the principles of movement, however I have extended them out across many different genres of exercise such as HIIT, martial arts, running, swimming, cycling and weight training, and this way of exercising has helped every client have longevity in their chosen sport or exercise regime.
Making exercise sustainable means to exercise with purpose. Not the purpose of losing weight, or to change the way you look (sure, you can do that, however those sorts of programs are set for a short period of time). Rather with the purpose of your natural human movement principles. With the principles in mind your workouts can only be sustainable. And I’ve tried and tested this with 100’s of people including myself.
Exercise culture today is largely based around more is better. Studios and ‘movement gurus’ hook you on exercise programs that get your adrenaline pumping and muscles tightening, promising to get you in whatevershape and mindset that is trending at the time. But it’s not sustainable. Often it leads to tension and tightness. And mostly these programs fall by the wayside as soon as we lose will power. But as Joseph Pilates said the purpose is what really matters and from what I’ve seen so far it really is true.
I have a list of the principles on my Instagram, if you would like to study them, along with workouts then head to @acwithlove_
My saying is ‘if you find Pilates boring, you’re not concentrating inwards enough.’ Get your principles nailed and you will find any type of exercise is sustainable.
Alex Coleman X
