So today’s blog we are going to find out if your workouts compliment your life or more importantly the things you want to do in life. I’m pulling this directly from my past experiences.
I’m going to be using my dance career as a reference, for many years I trained my muscles to just look good. I didn’t train at all for movement or for the benefit of my dancing. This resulted in me getting stiff and my dancing getting choppy, as well as lead me to some injuries due to my lack of practicing health mobility. Now, years later and a lot more education on movement and how the body actually works I have changed my training and my workouts to compliment my dance ability and even make it stronger. Plus the decrease in injuries is a huge bonus.
Let’s talk about a few things we can do look at now to improve your workouts to better the things you like to do. Whether that’s dancing, running, boxing, or being able to keep up with your kids.
First, look at what you like to do and examine the repetitive movements. Then ask yourself if these movements can be replicated in your workouts. For example, take my dancing. There are a lot of small jumping movements as well as quick footwork. So when I train I like to incorporate box jumps to help build my joint stability and unilateral exercises to help me build my balance. So I can feel confident and safe knowing my body will be able to handle any performance.
After recognizing your repetitive movements it’s time to put them into the workouts. This can be done quite easily and it’s success can be measured pretty efficiently. When programming these new movements you don’t have to go crazy or throw the whole kitchen sink at it. Just select one or two complementing exercises and incorporate them into your current routine. Example, instead of doing squats switch it out with some split squats or instead of doing your shoulder press, maybe switch it up to some overhead kettlebell carries. So ya see it’s not hard or crazy if you know what your movements are and how they work. To see if your efforts are benefitting you, you just have to realize your progress. Say you’re a runner, are you running faster or longer? If yes, then it’s working. If not, then it’s time to try something out. Easy as that.
Lastly, the number one rule to improve the things you like to do in life, this rule trumps all the advice above and that is to do it often! There is no better way to improve at something than practicing it often, whether that be taking dance classes, running more often, or taking that circus class you like to do. The more time you put into your hobbies and skills the better you’ll get at it. So go out and have fun!