Fitness is a planned workout in gym or a morning run right? But the workout is a pretty modern thing for people. The movement lifestyle was just a part of human existence before civilization. Survival relied on movement.
The Movement Lifestyle
Humans used to have to move to meet their needs. Finding food and water required moving through the environment. Not an environment of sidewalks and stairs, but of ungroomed wilderness.
Even though this isn’t necessary for most of us now, it still is if you want a healthy body. While spending time in a gym doing structured workouts can help a lot to undo the problems modern life creates, it’s not the same as movement throughout the day.
If you want a healthy body, the trick is to get broad spectrum movement throughout the day. Find little ways to challenge yourself and explore your movement capacity whenever you get a chance, not just when you’re in the gym.
The movement lifestyle isn’t about doing handstand push-ups and ring muscle ups. It’s about making movement an important part of your day. You don’t have to be an expert gymnast or a martial arts master. Just spend a little time every hour adding some novel movement.
One of my favorite ways to do this is to balance on curbs instead of using sidewalks. I’m still headed to the same place, but I can work on my balance at the same time! Another simple way you can do this is to avoid using handrails on stairs. Obviously don’t put your safety at risk and scale these things to your ability level, but have fun with it!
What ways can you get more novel movement into your life? Share in the comments. It’s not just fun. It’s healthy!
