The Shortest Distance from Fitness A to B - Mindful Movement

The Information Age & Get-Fit-Quick have many of us paralyzed & unsure. Here's how to navigate to your next success, and the one after that.

Every fitness blogger, InstaFamous Fitness Trainer, Guy-at-the-Gym, and Personal Trainer has a trick, an angle, a distillation of all of their experiences and tidbits into a single…

"It's easy - you just have to…"

• Do Keto
• Don't eat after 8pm
• Take 3 scoops of protein a day
• Eliminate sugar
• Wear these funny compression leggings
• Do cardio after weights
• Coconut oil

New exerciser and fitness veteran, alike, we're all looking for THE way to tune (or start) our workouts, as if all of mankind has been waiting for this moment that took eons of cumulative human knowledge to solve all our fitness woes with this, the inevitable zenith of fitness understanding… the moment that we've waited forever for:

• Sketchers Shape-Ups (ass-sneakers, really?)
• The Thigh-Master (not touching it)
• The Shake-Weight (hat-tip the vibrating leather ass-fat belt from the 30s)
• The Atkins Diet (no beer, no way)
• The Body Blade (it's like the Shake-Weight for ninjas?)
• HIIT (no one does it right, anyway)

Try it, it works, you'll see.

Not that we didn't enjoy the Shake-Weight commercials, but after this big thing will certainly come the next, and on into infinity we go.

A Better, Less Embarrassing Way

I'm here to tie it all together for you in four words. These four words are the bridge between the now, and the then. Between success and frustration. Between 220# and under 205.

They are the only reason why the Thigh-Master worked for someone, even just that single person, and actually has extraordinarily little to do with what equipment they used, what workout they did, what cleanse they drank, or what Sneakers they overpaid for. So profound, though so simple.

I'll tell you, but you have to promise to read the rest of this because it will make so much sense…

"Be mindful, be present"

(It's only anticlimactic if you stop reading there)

The Distance from A to B

As it relates to health and fitness, there's not a single person that ever got lucky by accident… not one.

Whomever you know that got from a no-longer-acceptable Point A, to a favorable Point B did so simply because they paid attention. They felt, they focused on what they were doing when they were doing it. These people didn't necessarily focus on fitness and health every waking moment, they just focused on it when they were doing it – they were present. This presence-of-mind / presence-of-moment slowly and eventually permeates into other relevant moments, naturally and otherwise effortlessly bringing them to their Point B.

Any of the little "tips" and "you got to-dos" had barely anything to do with it, they were just a drop in the bucket (if at all) towards contributing to the overall progress… it was the attention they paid to the moment they were in that was the best thing they could have ever done.

If you watch closely the next time you're at the gym, look around to see who's connected. Pay attention to who is present in their moment, and who's just occupying space.

The couple that lost mad weight over the last four months (Andrew and Meg, nice work!) – they're always there when you're there. They're always operating close-to (or at) 100% of what they have. They're paying attention to what they're doing while they're doing it, then they're present in each moment that arrives after that… every set, every rep.

100% of What?

Physical effort and intensity are relative and subjective; some days hard is easy, and other days easy is hard – this is true for everyone. But, 100% is 100% no matter which way you cut it. If you only have 70% today - great, I'll take 100% of that. If today's a good day and you're bringing 105%, I want all of that, too. The only way you know what you have is if you're paying attention to what you're feeling at this very moment.

Sounds Great, Where do I Start?

Your next workout, this is what I want you to do…

After you've changed into your workout gear (compression leggings, do it) you're going to warm-up… you pick. Hop on your preferred cardio machine and take 10 minutes to just take a walk-in-the-park. On a scale of 1 – 10, you want to be 3ish/4ish.

During these 10 minutes, the only thing I want you to think about is: What do you feel?

Like, everything -

"My heels feel like they're striking hard"

"Got this weird stretch behind my left knee, it's not bad but I feel it"

"My breathing feels shallow"

"There's that click in my ankle"

…everything. You're taking inventory of everything that your kinesthetic senses are telling you.

"Felt my pores open, starting to sweat at 7:52"

This is the beginning of being present. At 10 minutes, you're going to go about your workout – whatever you do – as you normally would, but you're taking your presence with you. If you're like 80% of other people, for this workout you're likely going to have to lower the weight. Why? Because today is about being here, right now, in this body. A mental observer of a human-machine that's moving resistances through space.

You want to feel the movement, literally every minute of angle through the range of motion. You want to feel the stresses change:

"My lower back feels like it picks up some of the stress right  >here<  during my bicep curl"

"I feel my weight shift forward to the balls of my feet right >here<  during my dumbbell row"

"I have to shift my weight back to my heels >here< during my squat or my toes will track too far forward.".

All of it… In order to feel your body in control of the movement, the moment, you'll probably need to go light today (it doesn't take big weight to feel the effects of movement, if you don't believe me click here and I'll be happy to take you through a workout), after all, that's what this workout is all about…you.

You'll do the very same thing for your cool-down and stretching – what's happening to your heart-rate over the course of your 10-minute cool-down? Take a deep cleansing breath… now, what do you feel? If you reset and focus on the stretch sensation, can you offer that muscle a release, another quarter inch of stretch (then try it again and see what happens).

Now It's Your Turn

Look around the gym again, the people that focus, progress, and engage – they're all doing the same thing… they're feeling for a specific thing. The only difference is that at this point in the game, your "Day 1", you're feeling for everything.

Start here. Let this manifest into what it may. I can promise you that after 20 years of studying clients, exercisers, and athletes, this is the spark that starts the fire – luck has nothing to do with it.

80% of success is just showing up…just show up - but mentally, this time.

See you there.