By Kris Germain
Let me set the stage for this article.
Part 1 of this article was written before Covid-19 swept over the world. Honestly, there’s nothing like a world-wide pandemic to drive our definition of strength deepest. Functional, Robust and Playful had deep meaning when we were all free to go anywhere we wanted. Now it’s even more important, and never have we been more aware of the immune system as an expression of strength...
Welcome to Part 2 of “How To Make Your Body Stong.” In part 1, we spent time defining strong as Functional, Robust and Playful. This article continues to develop a conversation we’re exploring in the pursuit of a thriving lifestyle. Thriving compared to just getting by. Thriving compared to the tyranny of our metastisized To-Do lists and impossible Calendars.
In this article, I will give you 5 areas to help you filter what’s important in making you strong and assessing areas you are lacking.
Eat to be strong.
Your body is a machine. It’s the most beautifully created machine to ever exist. It is the vehicle through which you experience this world. Your body operates through chemical stimulus and response. Everything you put in your body changes the chemistry of your body. All muscular contractions, all pain stimuli, all digestive operations, all sexual responses, all immune responses are initiated first chemically. If you do not learn How to Eat, then your body will break down in one or all of the following points of strength.
Make your heart strong
If you elevate your heart rate for 30 mins a day 5 times a week, you will absolutely take a giant leap towards THRIVE.
The machine of your body is a pump system. The rest of your body is completely dependent on it for healthy function. Without a strong heart, you cannot thrive. Period.
Here’s where mistakes will be made.
Walking briskly elevates your heart rate. People who fancy themselves athletes will struggle with this as an acceptable form of heart exercise. The cutting edge is about finding the right combination of elevated heart rate. If you’re at a Crossfit gym, you must learn to exist in a way that does not have you at the edge of your capacity every day. It doesn’t sound very CrossFit. Hope they don’t kick me out :)
If you can’t do 5 days a week--start with 1 or 2 or 3. You must BEGIN in order to THRIVE.
Make your joints strong
Routinely take your joints through “uncommon” ranges of motion. Teach your body full range of motion squats, presses, lifts, pushups, and pullups. When you teach your joints to be strong and stable at end-range, you will have acquired a facet of strength that most do not have and nearly everyone loses as they age--and not because of the age, but because we stop expressing full range of motion. We call this the “Use it or lose it principle.”
This principle of strong joints is tied to mobility and full expression of range of motion. When we don’t routinely exercise full range of motion we are apt to get injured if we find ourselves suddenly in need of that range of motion (like when your walking your dog and he suddenly pulls your shoulder in a surprising direction).
Your body is inherently stronger when your joints are stronger.
Make your frame strong
Ok, here’s where we talk about Muscles and Bones. It is important to have strong muscles. To build strong muscles you need to use resistance. 2-3 times a week you need to utilize load or weight from your body with pushups, pullups, squats lunges, running and jumping, climbing, etc. And/or you can utilize external objects like dumbells, barbells, kettlebells, sandbags, tires, rucks, and common machines that you would find in a gym. Variety is important: upper body and lower body movements, exercises designed to strengthen your core, and to promote full range of motion.
Here’s the cool thing, the same principle of load on your muscles is just as important to your bones and the connective tissues that tie everything together. Your bones and connective tissues get incrementally stronger just like your muscles do. How cool is that? Your bone density increases when you use resistance against them.
Make your mind strong
Patterns and puzzles…
I had only written the words above before my Tuesday writing sessions at the office suddenly closed down as the doors to my gym were also closed.
What I intended to describe was the hunger the brain has to learn and to be used. You will be able to find study after study that corroborates this, but what I find is rarely talked about is the two-way street that exists between the brain and the body. Your brain runs EVERYTHING in your body, and amazingly if your brain isn’t challenged it gets weaker and slower just like the muscles, bones and other tissues in your body. Your brain gets strong and stays strong by being challenged. It needs to process and react and CREATE! One of the best ways to challenge the brain is to ask it to learn something new. New movement patterns are an incredible way to keep the brain strong. Forcing it to create a new system also informs old systems--which means learning new things helps you get even better at old things.
Now, this is where things get timely. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted like never before how devastating it can be physically when stimulus to the brain is reduced. Apathy is the result, and apathy is like a hidden cancer; it spreads, it consumes and it incapacitates.
These days I spend most of my coaching time pointing to the great super-highway between the body and the brain. I preach the “permission to feel good” louder than ever, and it took a global pandemic to cut through the noise of social media, unrealistic and unhealthy goals that were keeping people from actually being Strong
Thriving in life needs much more than just a physical answer, but making your body strong gives us significant advantages if we are Functional and Robust and Playful.
If you could use some help with any of the “Get Strong” ideas in this article, jump on a call with us today by clicking on this link and scheduling a No-Sweat Intro.
