Reach: A Movement Paradigm

Description

Our culture teaches us to "exercise", but our movement paradigm is more important. If we seek comfort 90% of the time and exercise 10% of the time, we'll get some benefits. But if we learn to make our everyday movement into an exercise, then we get more benefits while having tons of fun!

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Tags: Kenton Whitman,ReWild University,Human Rewilding,personal rewilding,mindfulness,how to,bushcraft,survival,wilderness survival skills,how to survive in the woods,primal fitness,natural exercise

Video Transcription

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I'm sitting in the chair which is a little bit odd for me but I'll explain why soon there's a really strong difference between exercising and our movement to paradigm so you can think that we all have a movement paradigm and we can step outside of that to exercise or enhance our body there is probably a time back in the day when we were mammoth hunters when Oh throwing spears running and lifting things climbing trees when we didn't have to step out of our movement paradigm in order to exercise but today we definitely do and hopefully my actions are speaking louder than words

I think of reach as touching on three essential elements of our bodies movement capabilities that is balanced strength and flexibility all right now enter in modern civilization we have created a an environment that is based on comfort and when I go into one of our many comfort saving devices what happens is my body is taken completely out of Callan geing those three elements when those three things aren't challenged then

my body adapts to that it gets less flexible it gets less straw and I lose my sense of balance the result is that as we age we lose a lot of our muscle mass we tend to fall most of us certainly cannot reach down and touch our toes reach asks us to reach allenge those three elements and we don't even have to give up chairs we can do this in a household in a work environment the basis of Reach is that in every motion I'm going to try to challenge either my flexibility my strength or my balance or two of those elements are even all three so I start to get into the habit of movement where I do not take the easiest path a real basic examples I'm going to get up from this chair to do this I'm going to scoot my feet backwards to get them closer under my center of gravity this is for balance I'm going to lean forward this is going to again be good for my balance and it's going to reduce any real need for muscular strength I'm going to put my hands on here and I'm gonna use my legs and my arms to push me up when I do that I've made that motion as easy as possible and thus in that moment my body adapts to less strength plus flex blood well let's strength less flexibility less balance now to take my feet I'm going to move them out about four six inches now I'm not going to lean forward but I'm going to try to stand up

whoa I can't by moving my feet just a little bit by being conscious of where I'm putting my torso I have now reached out some of my pillars of support in this case my feet reach them out just a little bit and it has made this task currently impossible for me over time I might be able to develop enough strength to do this but right now I can't do it reach is going to ask us to play with this I've reached out my phone up that's too far I'm gonna bring those feet back a little bit okay I'm going to try to find the place where I'm just at the edge of my strength and flexibility here I have to lean forward a little bit but if I do just lean forward a little Oh bring them back reach and finally I can find the place where I can do it and that took a lot of strength and the thighs it looks ridiculous I'm just getting up from a chair but I'm not using my usual handicaps to do it try it out you'll be surprised by how just a couple of inches if you don't lean is going to make a huge difference you

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to successfully incorporate reach into your life you want to find that balance place I don't have to make it a huge effort to get out of that chair but I'm going to make sure there that I've used some muscular strength to do it by taking myself slightly out of balance in this case here I could put my hands here and get up like that they're a challenge my balance I've challenged my strength I can sit there for a little bit right finding what's right for you that's the keys in your office if you work in the office walking someplace sitting in a chair even when you're in bed you can just lay there and bat and read we can lay there in bed with your feet your toes your feet rather just a couple inches off the bed that's going to engage through your abdominals through here again take this at your level is if you're able to start on all fours is to start there and just feel out your balance and your strength on all fours in general during this exercise the lower I go the more strength is required if I'm higher the lives now here I can think if I reach out with one foot I've created a dynamic where I'm going to be requiring my body to use some strength and flexibility balance to for instance move this hand up and over and back you're seeing this in a lot of the animal movement exercises that are coming out right now but reach turns it into a movement paradigm right so here here this was pretty easy for me how could I have made that tougher if I put this further out but that requires more flexibility for me and a little more strength I keep it back here that takes more flexibility about to its limit but required less strike this foot can go out and now I'm going to try to take this hand put it between here and shift it over this yeah I found that I can't get my weight over this hand maybe here there we go that took me to my edge now I have to do something with this hand I'm trying to reach out in control not yeah like that in control that's very important at first as you start playing this reach game because if I'm not under control I'm going to tend to end or something and so finding my limit of flexibility strength and balance start this exercise very slowly very control and then work up to doing things more dynamically a little bit faster a little bit more intense [Music]

so reach the paradigm shift when you carry those groceries carry them out here or even just two inches out use bags instead of using that shopping cart a nice reusable canvas bags that can double is some weight lifting when I'm cooking just talking to someone can I be standing on one leg can I be reaching up every moment when we're moving within that reach paradigm is building and strength it's building the flexibility it is building in balance add that reach exercise and if you can't get on all fours I know some people that I communicate with are even in a bed and can't get out of a bed if you use a wheelchair you can still do this so it's just finding I'm in a wheelchair it's finding where I can use some flexibility to reach and get something everybody has a limit to where their flexibility currently is doesn't matter if that's as far as I can reach or if that's as far as I can reach I find my limit and then just touch to the edge of it

let's drag even can just press on here and I engage some muscles so this does not have to be big but it does to make it work does have to become your new moving paradigm and that means you have to develop a new habit and put in some time in the beginning to shift that habit from comfort to reach okay you can do it you just need to make this the one thing you're going to change right now remember in all the willpower studies they say change one thing at a time this month if you make it reach try to shift your movement paradise don't try to change your diet in a major way don't try to develop tons of emotional intelligence make this next month just about shifting your movement paradigm this will have far-reaching effects not just in your bodily health but it affects us up here too our body really affects our mind state [Music]

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