We all want to move well, feel good, and remain injury free. However with the daily responsibilities of modern life, moving as we were intended to isn’t as easy as it was years ago. Modern life doesn’t require us to move in the variety of ways that our body is built to move. Because of this, we adapt to the positions that our bodies are in most often. (For example developing rounded shoulders and back pain if you have a job that requires a lot of time sitting at a desk.) When we are young, we move very well, but as we age, we try to make day to day tasks easier, causing us to compensate and miss out on our full range of motion. 

The good news is this doesn’t have to be our fate. By moving our bodies through full ranges of motion, we allow them to thrive. So how do we ensure we’re moving our bodies so that daily activities remain easy? By putting them through ranges of motion that they’re not used to. A combination of free weight and body weight exercises that mimic the way we move every day are the most effective way to do this. They also allow our bodies to be more efficient with our movements, which leads to more progress in less time.

One common misconception is that if you have a hard time standing up out of a chair or getting up off the ground, weight machines will solve this issue. Stronger muscles are important, however machines don’t teach the muscles how to work together to support one another. Imagine each of your muscles is a different instrument. Alone, each instrument only produces one type of sound, but if all the instruments are played together, they create a beautiful symphony. By teaching our muscles to work together in harmony, we’re getting the most out of them and giving ourselves the best chance to optimize movement and prevent injury.