Hey friends!
This week, I am bringing you my top 3 (non-cliche) reasons why movement should be a part of your everyday routine. Let’s get into it:
Avoid Compensation: Muscles are really a conglomeration of lots and lots of strands and bundles of muscle fibers. Each bundle of muscle cells called a fascicle are controlled by your brain which has nerve connections running all the way down to every muscle fascicle in your body. When muscles aren’t used, they can become more and more difficult to recruit properly which can result in your body compensating for muscles that don’t want to fire.
Avoid or Cure a Dowager’s Hump: If you’ve never heard of a Dowager’s hump before you’ve probably seen them or may even have one yourself! Luckily, it is possible to lose the appearance of one but it takes a lot more work to do so versus never get one in the first place! And as you can guess the longer you’ve had one the more challenging it is to reverse. That’s why prioritizing daily movement is so important in avoiding one in the first place. A Dowager’s hump is that hump or lump you see at the base of the neck on a hunched upper back. With proper posture work, they can go away and with consistent and quality daily movement, they’re less likely to appear in the first place!
Have Stronger Relationships: I’m sure you’ve heard of endorphins, the hormones we release during exercise that makes us feel really good or experience the so-called “runner’s high”. Well, when you exercise with friends, family or a significant other, you’ll start to tend to associate those happy hormones with that person and vice versa.
Doing your daily movement practice with someone else can also make you associate feelings of accomplishment and progress with them as well. You can share goals and successes in the gym, in a class, or at a sport with the person and help celebrate one another. All the milestones you can reach in your movement practice, you can reach WITH someone if you so choose and it can strengthen those relationships!
Well, hopefully I’ve convinced you that there are more benefits to daily movement other than building strong muscles and bones, improving brain function, and avoiding injury! (Even though those are some pretty darn good arguments as well!) So grab a friend, spouse, or kid and find some daily movement! Doesn’t matter what it is. There is no one best activity. In fact, the best activity for YOU is whatever one YOU will stick to long term! Dancing, biking, lifting, climbing, swimming, running, etc. You got this!