Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully

It's incredible to think that the fitness industry is a trillion dollar industry which continues to grow year after year. With all that growth, you might expect to see a decrease in the rates of obesity, diabetes, depression, and other health issues like low back pain and ACL rupture rates in children. But, in reality, all these health problems seem to be on the rise. There are many factors that could be contributing to this trend, but one thing is clear…

I’ve recently been immersing myself into this brilliant book by Kelly and Juliet Starrett called Built to Move, and let me tell you, it's a real game-changer! If you're interested, I highly recommend checking it out, and I've included a link here for your convenience. I won’t give it all away but there are a few key takeaways from the book that I think are worth sharing.

When you search for online fitness programs, it's hard to avoid the ones that promise to get you "summer body ready," help you "shift that belly fat," or offer "8-week body transformations." I'm not here to judge anyone who wants to change their physical appearance, but let's face it: quick fixes rarely lead to anything good or long-lasting. Unfortunately, the algorithms that drive our social media feeds don't seem to promote the message of moderation and making long-term lifestyle changes to improve our relationship with food and exercise. But that's exactly what we need if we want to truly become healthier in the long run.

It's a common theme I see in some of the injuries I see in clinic. Many of which could be solved with regular, prescriptive exercise. However, I'm always amazed at how many patients would rather opt for a quick fix like an injection or surgery to "fix" the problem. But here's the thing: while these procedures may offer some initial pain relief, they're not a long-term solution. Without putting in the effort to strengthen and mobilise the affected structures through exercise, you can be sure that the pain and symptoms will eventually return.

It's interesting to note that we're often willing to make long-term personal and professional goals, like saving for retirement or working towards a promotion. But when it comes to our physical health, we seem to have a different mindset. We want to see results right away and have a hard time with delayed gratification. But what good are those long-term personal and professional goals if your physical health doesn’t allow you to make the most of them?

All too often people realise too late that they wish they did more to look after themselves when they were younger. As it requires a long-term commitment to see meaningful results.

One of the things I really appreciate about this book is that it acknowledges that everyone has their own definition of what it means to be healthy. For some, it might mean being able to run marathons or to be able to ski down a mountain. For others, it might simply mean being able to go up and down stairs without getting out of breath or getting up and down from the floor without assistance. Regardless of what your personal definition of health looks like, one thing is for certain: no one sets out with the goal of being unhealthy or being unable to perform basic tasks. That's why it's so important to work towards maintaining and improving our physical health in a way that feels meaningful and motivating for us as individuals.

When it comes to physical metrics used in health and fitness, there are really only a few that are commonly used. Heart rate, blood pressure, BMI, and VO2 Max are some of the most well-known. However, these metrics have their limitations. Heart rate and blood pressure can vary from day to day, and VO2 Max testing can be time-consuming and challenging to perform. And don't even get me started on BMI 😡😅 - it's a notoriously flawed measurement that doesn't take into account factors like muscle mass or body composition. So, while these metrics can be useful in some situations, it's easy to understand why they aren’t helping us make that upward curve a downward curve for some of those health issues I mentioned earlier.

Kelly and Juliet brilliantly propose 10 physical vital signs that can be used to give people an idea of where their physical health is at, as well as being incredibly easy to both test and perform with next to no equipment. So, over the coming weeks/months I’m going to go through these so we can hopefully start looking at our physical health goals with the same level of dedication and patience as we do with our retirement savings or career advancements. Lets see if we can do our bit for making both ours and future generations a healthier more durable population.