Fitness and Fuel was born from an idea I had many years ago of approaching health from all angles, and was once called the Body Invincible Plan. The Body Invincible Plan was designed to help you master life’s basic functions and shield your body from outside stresses. Having been through many illnesses and injuries myself I realized that health came from many different skills. Then after working with hundreds of different people I realized that most were missing a few of these skills holding them back from their true potential. What are the elements of health that make us almost invincible?
Proper amounts of movement and resistance.
The right amount of rest and recovery.
Easy smooth breaths.
The elimination of waste (mental and physical).
The quest of mastering these skills is quite extensive, and spreads in many directions. Let’s tackle one at a time so we can properly understand what is needed, and how to take action to improve.
How do we quantify proper amounts of movement and resistance?
Exercise is a modern invention to help humans get the adequate amount of movement now that we are no longer hunter gatherers. This now depends on the type of life you live, and the goals you have for yourself. Not being a person who likes the “it depends” answer, we’ll use my opinion of what I think humans should be able to do. First I’d like to start with a quote.
“Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.” - Alfred A. Montapert
The type of movement we choose should be deliberate, and is dictated by your starting point. This may be a short walk, this could be training, this could be a yoga class, and this also could be a bike ride. If you are a healthy individual with no restrictions, you should be able to go out for a 3 mile walk with friends with no problem. You also should be able to wash your back thoroughly, and even stand on one foot to put on your underwear. On top of that you should be able to bend over and pick up a bag of groceries, and get up and down off the floor with ease.
Do these seem like simple tasks to you? If so, fantastic! If not, we have some work to do.
How do you know where to start then? Here at Fitness and Fuel we start you off with a comprehensive assessment that tests flexibility/range of motion, endurance, and balance. Once we analyze the results we implement certain exercises into your program and life outside of the gym to help you improve on a daily basis.
Try the following at home tests to see how you stack up, and then come in for a free comprehensive assessment to start making progress today!
Here are the tests, are you ready?
Lunge with Rotation (insert pictures here)
2 minute Step Test
Arms folded Balance Test
I’m going to let you in on a little secret to how we make tremendous gains in movement quality…. We use a combination of “The Functional Movement Screen” (FMS), and Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) to help our clients.
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