Identify your starting point...
Keep it real
Whether you’re new to fitness or you’ve been at it for a while, it’s helpful to stop every now and then to do an assessment of where you are. Define your current abilities and your restrictions.
Bad form will certainly bring you limitations and problems in the future. Good form will help you evolve your Fit Identity and get and stay fit. The hardest part is being honest with yourself and your capabilities.
How You Move – Where Are You Today?
It isn’t always easy to be honest with yourself about where you are on the scale of someone who moves without quality all the way to fitness pro level. Take a moment to be honest with yourself here before you keep reading so you’ve got a good sense of your starting point.
Are you in good shape, looking to take it to the next level?
- Have you let your fitness slip and you’re not sure where to start?
- Do you need to step back due to pain, strain or inability?
- Can you recognize when you’re moving incorrectly?
Take the time to assess where you are. Use this Quick Move Assessment (link) to get you started, but be sure to complete your Fit Identity Assessment (link) to get the full picture.
If you want a strong and healthy Fit Identity, you have to master the fundamentals. Invest in your health by learning the basics. When you understand primary exercise patterns, it’s much easier for you to complete more complex or advanced movements. Learn and become proficient in the primary movement patterns performed in most fitness programs.
Question #1 before every fitness movement/exercise:
What is its purpose?
If you don’t know why you are doing something, don’t do it. In the movement videos featured in The Fit Gym, you’ll find the answer to this question for many common fitness movements. For other movements, ask questions for proper engagement and alignment. I wouldn’t be surprised if just this single adjustment – understanding the why – changes the game entirely for you and your fitness program.
You’ll find instructional videos for every one of the key movements you need to know here in The Fit Gym. Study them. I didn’t always have the best movement patterns, but I studied and practiced until I got it.
The videos you find here will help you develop great form as you progress to more advanced workouts.
Before you start anything, you need to identify what you want to achieve. Knowing this information will help you with the following:
- A series of movement patterns combined is an exercise.
- A series of patterned exercises combined is a workout.
- A series of patterned workouts combined is your program.
The body adapts quickly to movement patterns. Good and Bad! To break through plateaus and achieve better results, you have to mix things up. Your program should have cycles (phases) to it. Smaller ones of 3-6 weeks, and then on to the next, depending on your goal.
You don’t have to abandon your favorite workouts or moves. You just need to combine them in different ways to reduce adaptation and force your body to respond freshly to change- resulting in accomplishing your Fit Identity fitness goals. Know your goal and then pick your program!
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When I learned to think about the quality of every movement I was instructing and performing, my results improved, not just a little but drastically. And LASTED! So did the results of my clients.
When you get this right, the outcome is always the same: successful lasting results.
Three things ALWAYS need to be considered for each fitness movement to perform it properly:
- Is this movement SCIENCE based?
- Is there valid research behind the movement, or is it fluff or marketing nonsense?
- What is the purpose of this move?
- What am I trying to achieve, exactly, by doing this move?
- Are my joints moving correctly and are my muscles engaged properly?
- Do I have the ability to do this exercise correctly?
The key to achieving great lasting results in fitness: you have to repeatedly move properly. You have to choose a program that is fun to you and gets results- that sequences and leverages one quality movement after another to achieve your Fit Identity goals.
Get started today!
Many small successes added up over time will equal a great result in the end.
Practice patterns will make your movement gains permanent. Practice the right movements with the right technique. That’s all you can ask from yourself.
Learning one new movement, pattern, or skill each day adds up to AT LEAST 365 changes a year.
If you find yourself struggling, check yourself. Stay in your lane. Focus on your own Fit Identity.
If you’re already following these key movement patterns, great.
If you’re not, start today.
