How to Start Moving Again When You've Stopped

Since this blog started I've noticed an interesting trend.It appears as if they're are a lot of you that are into this whole "moving your body again" thing. The problem is you're overwhelmed because it's been a while and you don't know where to start.You see cool stuff like primal movement, forest parkour, or awesome flexibility and it feels so exciting! I get it. Sometimes I feel like a kid in a giant playground with so many cool things to play with that I have no idea what direction to go in.But if you haven't been moving for a while, not only are you going to have trouble with what to focus on, you'll also probably be lacking some confidence in your body.Telling you to "just start" and "listen to your body" doesn't help much when you're lost in a strange world where you no longer speak the language your body is talking in.

So, how do you get started started moving again if it's been a while?

My first recommendation might insult you. You might think "I came here to learn how to move again, and you're giving me advice I could have gotten from a five year old."That's the whole point though. Learning to move again doesn't have to be simple or complicated.That's why I suggest you get started with, wait for it... walking.Yep, simple, plain old, walking.What I do recommend though is that you start with your shoes off, and try as much as possible to walk on uneven surfaces (we're not meant to walk on flat, predictable surfaces, it makes our ankles and feet weak). In between the sidewalk and the curb is usually the best best if you're in an urban setting. Or if you have access to trails close by, that would be the best.But don't just walk like a typical, docile caged human let out for it's "free time."While you're walking try hanging a little from any low tree branches you encounter. Experiment with jumping on rocks, curbs or other objects you encounter. When branches and leaves are in your way, duck and weave your head out of the way instead of simply walking around them.Don't worry, the environment is safe to touch, you're not going to break anything or get arrested.By actually moving and exploring a typical walk can turn into a very enriching movement experience.Just talking about it is making me want to get up from the keyboard this instant and start walking!

After walking, start exploring like an uncaged human

Find some monkey bars and play around with them. Try jumping on or over benches. Play on a swing. Relearn how to just move without making it into a big deal.Once you've done that a bit, you can challenge yourself by trying to figure out how many movement possibilities you can find with a simple object.This could be a park bench, a tree branch or a simple railing.Let's take for example a common rail. At first sight you assume there's only one real movement you can do: jump over it.LAME.So you think "That's boring. Who wants to play with this stupid rail?"Surely a jungle gym or obstacle course would be much more fun."But stick with it and you'll see that it's not just a stupid rail.If you release your judgments and you'll find there's more to this rail than you thought.Aha! You can also climb under it.And upon further inspection you realize you can balance on top of it. You could even jump onto it or vault over it if you got enough confidence. Or hang from it. Or underbar it. Or flip, cartwheel or roll over it!You get what I mean. :)Pretty soon a stupid rail is a magical playground of endless movement creativity.Still not seeing it? Here's an example:

But what if my posture sucks, I have muscle imbalances or I'm afraid of hurting myself?

There's a lot you can do to start healing yourself. Learning as much as you can about your own body and how to maintain it is a critical part of being human.But a lot of it is simply moving again. Many of us stop moving when we're hurt because we're afraid of injuring ourselves. That usually just makes the problem worse.If we stop moving we then develop muscle imbalances from stationary living and only reinforce the fear of using our own bodies.If you're really serious about correcting imbalances and realigning your body, I recommend getting these two books:

1. Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman
2. Pain Free by Pete Egoscue

They'll help you get started on your path.However, for the majority of folks, it's very difficult to self-diagnose what you need to work on. For this I recommend seeing a functional movement screen practitioner or an Egoscue exercises practitioner.They can help by look at your body as a whole and how to address your kinks and weaknesses.

The next step is actually learning to listen to your and learning how it works

You might start by investigating these questions:

• What is alignment?
• What is the proper technique for walking, lifting, throwing, or falling?
• How do my joints move? What are all the ways each of my joints can move?
• What are the different tissues in my musculoskeletal system? How do they work?
• What does tension feel like? What does relaxation feel like? When are these useful to apply?

How far you want to take this investigation is up to you and how far you want to go with movement.Whatever you do, just start where you are. Break free from your rusty cage of human domestication and trust your animal instincts.Go outside, and be curious. Be willing to be seen as the "weird adult moving around."You'll find that it isn't as hard as you think.

Shitty Beliefs = Shitty Body

Most people these days are realizing that their thoughts create their destinies.It doesn't take much common sense to realize that better thinking, means a better attitude, which leads to better action and a better life.In a very real way, your thoughts really do create your reality.We have no problem applying this principle to manifesting the life we want, but many of us still don't get that our thoughts dramatically impact the types of bodies we have.Believe that you're uncoordinated? You will be. Believe that you're stiff and tense all the time? You will experience that in your body. Believe that you're always tired and never have enough energy? Surprise, that's what you'll get.So, why don't people just change their thoughts and beliefs?For one, most people think that whatever is happening, is true. They feel tension, so they assume that it's what "real" and they think thoughts that reinforce the tension: "I wish I wasn't so stiff all the time."What they don't realize is that at any time they could start thinking different thoughts and create new experiences.But when you feel stiff and say "I'm always relaxed and supple" it feels like you're just bullshitting yourself. No one wants to be a liar, so they never break the cycle. Or worse, they're afraid of thinking about relaxation, because they don't want to be let down by feeling the stiffness again, getting disappointed and feeling like there's no hope. Just easier to accept the facts, and move on with it, it seems.This doesn't change or help anything.So, how do you creatively think new thoughts and build new beliefs without feeling like a phoney?The key is in creative thinking.Rather than choosing some cheesey affirmation like "my body is relaxed and flexible" you start with a small, more believable statement like, "my body has been relaxed before, I know it's possible for me to be more relaxed."Then you might move up the chain a little and simply express a new desire, "I want to be a relaxed and flexible person, with enough effort and focus, I believe that could be possible."The key is to gently shift your thoughts, then look for evidence of it.Where do you feel relaxation in your body now? What part of you is flexible?Then comes the heavy lifting, actually do something to increasing your relaxation and flexibility!Of course you can't just think your way into flexibility without changing your behavior. You have to do something about it. The new thoughts encourage you to actually do something to shift your pattern of tension, and the action reinforces your ability to control your own experience.Your body is not some cumbersome bag of flesh you have to lug around for your brain to function. It doesn't hurt because it somehow "betrayed you."Your thoughts, habits, and behavior got you to where you now. Probably without much conscious effort on your part.So, start taking responsbility. Your body is an incredible gift capable of so much pleasure, sensation and amazing experiences.Staying trapped in limiting thinking about your body is optional.All it starts with is a simple, disruptive thought. That can happen right now.

How I Went From a Stiff Board to a Supple Beast in 10 Months with Focused Flexibility

Stiff doesn't even begin to cover it.I was more lopsided than the guy that never showed up for leg day once in his life (you know what I'm talking about).How did I get like this?For the better part of five years of serious training, I completely ignored my flexibility.At best, it was an afterthought. A little half-hearted yoga every few weeks, prompted only out of necessity when the pain of stiffness became too much to bear.I hope that when you see the pictures below you'll realize that I am by no means naturally flexible. I've had to work very hard to unlock the mobility I've achieved.

Think you could never be flexible? So did I, until I focused relentlessly on it

If you're thinking that you could never be flexible, you're probably right... if you never do the work.Flexibility is something you have to train and work at, just like anything else.For years I sat for 8-10 hours a day at work, followed by lots of maximal strength work. To make matters worse, a lot of this strength work was on isometric holds for gymnastics. Lsits, tuck front levers, crow holds, basically lots of static holds.What do all of these things have in common?If you guessed creating tension, then ding-ding-ding, you are the winner. Unfortunately I wasn't as smart as you. I kept up this kind of training long enough to make me stiffer than the stick up Dick Cheney's ass.Being able to produce tension in the body is very important, so let's not go on some tirade to demonize tension. Without any tension in the body, we'd be nothing more than a pile of goo.We want the ability to create tension when we need it, and release it when we don't.Because I got so out of balance, I needed a prolonged period of focusing much more on mobility than strength.Even though I'm still working on repaying the debt I incurred from all the years of missing my payments, I'm definitely getting closer to an equilibrium of mobility and strength.

Here's some more of the progress I've made in the last 10 months:

 

The reality of "lucky" success: 276 days of hard work

It might be very easy to look at my progress and think that I had some magic formula or that I unlocked some secret flexibility key in my mitochondria. Most people don't want to believe that it's just following a smart approach combined with lots of dumb, hard work.I can hear the naysayers now: "But isn't flexibility work supposed to be all about ease and relaxation, not hard work?"Yes, that is true, to a degree. Relaxation is a skill and flexibility is improved by it. But part of moving into a new (or old) range of motion comes with some pretty intense, albeit temporary, discomfort. (If you've ever done yoga you definitely know what I'm talking about.)On my path I've mad a ton of mistakes, but I've also learned a good deal. Hopefully you can get some value out of a few of the biggest lessons I've learned.

1. Experiment with volume and intensity.

There were a lot of times I did too much and end up pulling a muscle or overstraining my soft tissue. After that I would back off a bit too much and overcorrect. This helped me recover, but I got too tentative and my progress stalled.Finding the right balance of pushing just beyond my abilities, but not too much was a process of trial and error I had to go through.

2. Control, control, control.

If there's one thing I've learned is that your body does not like letting you do anything it doesn't perceive you have full control over. The more I just went through the motions or mentally checked out, the less progress I made.The more I fully embodied, breathed into and consciously controlled each stretch, the more results I experienced.

3. Breathe, smile and relax, even if it feels totally fucking fake.

Again, I'm not a scientist but it doesn't take more than common sense to realize that if your face is grimacing in pain it's not exactly a comforting sign for your body.The cool thing is that your body doesn't know if you're full of shit or not, so why not fake a smile, breathe and try to relax? You'll be sending a signal to your body that this movement is safe, and your brain will give your nervous system the green light.

4. Care as much about the beginning and end as the middle.

I think this mistake is a really common, easy one to make. We stop going through the motions during the stretch, but when it's over we just want to get out of it already and we sloppily finish.Make sure that the way you enter and exit the stretch is done with the same quality and attention as the stretch itself. Doing so has an added benefit, you'll be able to wield more control over the range of motion and make it much more useful in actual practice.

5. Build strength while you stretch

You may or may not know this already, but there's a huge difference between passive and active flexibility. There's also a big difference between being strong in a stretched position and being relatively fragile.For instance, if you only work on the side splits with your arms out in front to support you, you'll develop a relatively weak range of motion. Sure, you can get into the splits, but you can't actively hold your bodyweight up if you're suspending yourself like a badass:Of course, the next level to this is being able to actively lift your leg up into the splits while standing. Loaded stretching like the suspensions splits is still relying on an external force (the weight of your body) to accomplish the task.Being able to move into a range of motion with nothing more than your intrinsic strength is where the real magic is at. But working on loaded range of motion is a necessary first step.

6. Use what you gain!

This seems obvious, right? But most people will stretch and then just go back to their to-do list or whatever else they have going on.Maybe you're smarter than I am, but this is the way I approached my stretching for years.Remember this: your nervous system is a cognitive miser. If you don't use the new range of motion, your body sees it as a waste of resources to keep it available.Our bodies are only programmed to get better at whatever we actually do. In the example of the splits any time I work on them I try to follow it up with some high side kicks and handstands holding a straddle.This isn't just contained to really impressive feats of mobility like the splits. The squat is a very functional pattern that most people need to rehab.So, if you're working on squat mobility, do your stretches and exercises, then actually use your squat. Go outside and squat in the garden, play around with some ape crawling or just find creative ways to link the squat into other movements.

7. Work on the source of your stiffness.

Of course, this goes without saying but 1o minutes or even an hour of yoga every day is not going to counteract 10 hours of static postures (such as sitting, more sitting, and maybe... sitting?).The more I started to break up my day with lots of movement (I use pomodoros to help me with this), the more I saw my overall flexibility increase. You don't want all that hard work stretching to go to waste, do you?If you want to learn more about improving your mobility at work, read this guide I wrote at GMB on how to counteract sitting all day.

The most valuable thing I did? Incorporating mobility targets

In hindsight (like all smart things I suppose) this seems really obvious. For the longest time though I didn't do anything to measure my progress with my flexibility.So, guess what happened? Because it was completely subjective it seemed like I was running (stretching?) in place and getting nowhere.Here's an example with the squat:

A video posted by Jonathan Mead (@jonathanmead) on Jun 30, 2015 at 6:03pm PDT

Not all stretches allow you to use your hands to measure your progress though. For something like the splits it's useful to use the aid of a yoga block or something else you can measure.

A video posted by Jonathan Mead (@jonathanmead) on Jul 1, 2015 at 1:39pm PDT

Increasing mobility = increasing freedom

The more range of motion you have, the more access you have to different movement patterns and abilities.When you're able to safely control a greater range of motion, you have access to more opportunities and greater freedom of expression with your body.I used to think that anything that wasn't helping me build strength was a waste of time. Now that I know why I train — for greater freedom of movement — strength is still important, but mobility is at the top of the list.

But don't try to work on everything!

You might be thinking, "I'm stiff, so I should just work on everything at once." This is a very bad idea. How do I know? Because for a long time my stretching program was more bloated and ADD than a teenager on snapchat and redbull — not at all focused and definitely not going anywhere.When I finally started prioritizing my flexibility goals, what do you know, I finally started seeing results.The problem is that you might not know where to start. I get it, it can be overwhelming, especially when it feels like every part of you is stiff as a board.This is why I recommend GMB's Focused Flexibility program. It helped me get much more targeted with my training and reach my goals much faster.Of course you can try to do your own assessment and search around on Youtube for hours, but you're not going to get the quality you would investing a few bucks into a quality program.If you're tired of being confused and not seeing any results, this is the way to go. Without it I'd still be chasing my tail and ending up frustrated.Check out Focused Flexibility now.Full disclosure: If you click on the link above and purchase GMB's program, I will get a cut. This helps me make more awesome videos and tutorials like this for you. I only promote products I've personally used and tested, so you can be sure they're top notch. Thanks for helping out!photo source(s): burning chair, van damme splits

How to Train Like the Top 1% in the World (5 of 5)

Woah. You actually... made it to the end.You did read the rest of the series on moving heroically, right? (If not, go do that now, tons of people have benefited immensely from it.)Today we're going to talk about how the best people in the world approach training and their practice.I don't know about you, but I want to be one of the best movement artists on the planet. Modeling my approach to what the best in the world already do seems to make a lot of sense to me.Obviously we can't all train like pro athletes, and there are definitely some factors we can't control, like:

• Superior genetics
• Early childhood training
• Raw talent

But we can learn a lot from the way they reach greatness if we pay attention.Fate does play a role, but not as much as you'd think.In the book The Talent Code, author Daniel Coyle studied talent hotbeds around the world. On a quest to uncover how the world's best reached their level of incredible talent, in the end it boiled down to one thing:

Quality and depth of practice

If you exclude this critical ingredient, the clay of your greatness will remain simply mud. So, that begs the next question.What most greatly affects your quality and depth of training?The level of your training partners and teachers.The sad truth is that people will go their whole lives without deliberately selecting the people they train with. Fewer still will ever seek out and consult the help of a teacher.The majority of the population will train alone, sad isolated gym creatures hooked into the matrix with their apple earbuds and templatized routines.Okay, that was pretty dramatic. But you know what I'm getting at: the more you train alone the more likely you are to always do what you've always done.There's no one there to point out your mistakes (creating imbalances), call you on your bad habits (the ones injuring you), and encourage you to give everything when you'd rather just go through the motions.I can say all of this and you can nod your head in agreement. It's easy to see that having a great training partner or teacher is better than doing it like a lonely rogue. But you won't do anything about it unless you know:

• How to spot a great teacher or training partner
• How to find and connect with them

Let's dive into each one, shall we? How to find amazing training partners:

• Make friends with the teachers at local gymnastic, crossfit, bouldering and parkour gyms. Ask to train with them. Ask if they have open gym. They might be way better than you, but that's good a think. It means they'll force you to grow and progress much more quickly than if you surrounded yourself with average people.
• Take some martial arts, dance or yoga classes in your area and look for the most dedicated, advanced practitioners. Ask if they'd like to meet up once a week to train and exchange ideas.
• Post in the Movement Lifestyle group on Facebook. See if there's anyone near you that wants to train with you.
• If you can't find someone locally, create a Google hangout group where you share ideas each week and keep each other accountable. Look for the top commenters on this blog, Nerd Fitness forums, or any blog that resonates with you. They are the ones most likely to be dedicated enough to consistently show up.

Finding and assessing great teachers:

• Make sure that they walk the talk. Never hire someone that can't actually do what they are trying to teach you to do.
• Look at their credentials and who they've worked with in the past. People of a high caliber tend to have a track record of working with other high caliber people.
• Make sure they give live coaching, not just here's a list of thing, do them then "record a video and show me." You want live feedback and guidance to ensure you're doing the training correctly as they prescribe.
• Ask them what their process is. If they don't have an answer, take your money and run.

One teacher I can recommend is Justin Goodhart. I've personally worked with him and can attest to his level of commitment, knowledge and passion he puts into every client he works with.You can check out his student results here (you'll find me on there).The important thing is to find a teacher or training partner that is not only really fucking good, but that you resonate with. Some people might vibe with precise, focused process Justin gives, others will be drawn to the fun, mindful approach of Ryan and the guys at GMB.Or you might somehow be kind of insane and want to pursue internal strength, physical badassery and depth of purpose all at once, like me. In that case, we could be a good fit.Working your ass off is inevitable if you want to be amazing. So, why not be smart and make your environment work harder than you can?[clickToTweet tweet="Level up the people around you, and you level up automatically" quote="Level up the people around you, and you level up automatically"]Go, do something now to make your social influences work in your favor. Your future self will thank you for it.photo credits: One, Zombie treadmill

Should You Take Rest Days? The Power of Periodizing and No Structure (4 of 5)

Note: This is a follow up to this post on how to structure your daily practice. Read it here if you haven't yet.

"Rest days? Oh yeah, I took one of those back in 1978." –Ido Portal

It's a simple thing, rest. But it seemed to be loaded with more confusion and debate than anything in the fitness and movement community.So, how does one train to progress without burning out or injury?I'll tell you about my perspective on that in a minute, but for now, let's talk about training vs. movement, something most people have a lot of confusion about.

• Training is anything that involves specifically working toward a goal. Training is deliberately pushing the boundaries of what you're currently capable of.
• Moving is using what you've already got, not for the purpose of reaching a higher goal.

Training is structured, linear, developmental.Movement is the application of training. It can be functional, artistic, or playful.It is definitely possible to overtrain, but is much more difficult to move too much.If you're training for strength or flexibility, you always want to be pushing close to the edges of your capacity, but never to failure.If you're simply moving for the sake of play or to get somewhere, you probably don't want to be pushing the edges of your capabilities.Now, how do you train without burning out?

Periodization is the magic key.

What most people will do is work themselves into the ground, get injured and then stop training for a few months to recover, beat themselves up, then get back into the gym. They never really get anywhere because their program doesn't give them consistent results.Instead, you need to periodize your training. What do I mean? Well, there's a reason nature moves in cycles. Periods of growth and dormancy support balance and harmony.What most people will advise is 3-5 weeks of intense training, followed by 1 week of deloading, going to only 30-40% of the normal intensity.

Periodizing structure and chaos

I have a slightly different take on things. I like to to do 3-5 weeks of a structured program, really pushing myself and my capabilities, then take 1 week off for complete unstructured play. In this way, I have a balance of structure vs. no structure in my practice.Taking the week off does make it slightly more difficult to get back into the habit of regular programming, but I've found I'm back in the groove after a couple of days.Experiment and see what works for you.

What else affects success more than anything else?

Now, you might be wondering about how community and accountability might affect your training.Maybe you've tried everything on your own and you're tired of doing it alone. Perhaps you're struggling to show up consistently, or you're just feeling lonely in your practice.In the final post in this series, we'll be exploring how you can use community and accountability to dramatically level up your strength, skill and every area of your training.And I'll be finally be giving a small handful of people the opportunity to work 1-on-1 with me personally.What's your take on rest days? Leave a comment and share with us.P.S. Personally I train six days a week, with one day for active recovery (lots of play and movement, but no hard training).