Want To Up Your Fitness Game? Make Sure You Do This Outside Of The Gym
How much attention do you pay to your body’s form and function? (Photo: Getty Images)
Kelly Starrett knows what’s up when it comes to optimal movement of the human body. The New York Times bestselling author trains the top athletes in Crossfit and Olympians around the world, and he’s also an official trainer for ReebokOne.
I got the chance to talk to Kelly about many important aspects of sports and fitness, but one of the most interesting things he spoke so passionately about was taking the skills and movement we learn in the gym with us into our everyday lives.
We get away from the basics we learn as children. When you’re a kid, you don’t warm up to go run outside and play. You just do it. What happens to us that makes us lose this capacity?
As a general rule, we need to be training, or repatterning, our bodies proactively instead of waiting until we see a problem to fix. When building a workout regimen, ask yourself: Do I have full range of motion? In all areas of my body?
Figure out what physical problems you’re encountering (in sports AND in everyday life) and use your time in the gym to start correcting them. And then start using time outside of the gym to start repatterning.
Related: The World’s Greatest Stretch
An example: To help your running, stand with your feet straight all the time. Walk with your feet straight. You can repattern yourself so that your ankles and feet work like ankles and feet.
What else can we do? Kelly suggests just standing more.
It doesn’t sound like much, but if you increase the time you spend standing, you will notice less tightness in your hips, better ankle flexibility, and greater stability. And you can burn up to 25 percent more calories every day.
Kelly also stresses the importance of basic motor skills and stabilization. He is often astonished to see how people move around doing ordinary tasks — especially today’s kids. He says we aren’t teaching them the basic motor skills that help prevent injury. For instance, they should know how to pick up their backpacks with their backs flat and be able to jump on and off of things without compromising their knees.
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We see so many mistakes in movement and form because we don’t have a proper understanding of physiology and mechanics. We’re not literate when it comes to knowing the basic practices our bodies should be able to do and how they should perform. But when we find those basic practices, we can start to see what’s really going on.
You can listen to my full conversation with Kelly below:
For more on Kelly, click here.
ABOUT LEWIS HOWES: Lewis is a pro-athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur who hosts the top-ranked podcast The School of Greatness. He interviews the best and brightest minds in health, entrepreneurship, relationships and lifestyle. Follow Lewis on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
