Adjusting movements to suit your level of fitness
NOTE - This post was originally written for our 'weekly warble' segment in a few Facebook groups for the community local to our gym.
Welcome to the weekly warble here at Ideanthro Movement!
This week I would like to talk about how you can adjust movements to make them right for your current level of fitness. The internet is full of great fitness motivation, but often people show the really difficult and fancy options because they get a lot of attention. In this post I'm going to explain some principles for how to make movements that you see online easier. You can then apply these principles to all sorts of different movements and exercises!
In this video above you'll see me perform a little movement challenge. It's based around a squatting and sitting pattern. When you first try it, you might find it easy, or you might find it very difficult. That's totally ok! That will just depend on your particular levels of mobility and strength at the moment! The movement certainly isn't a walk in the park though! So here are two ways you can make it easier while still getting the intended effect of the movement (mobility, strength etc).
OPTION 1 - MIMIC THE PATTERN WHILE USING YOUR HANDS
When it comes to getting fitter, an important thing to keep in mind is that you need to be gently pushing your current limits at whatever you want to be better at. That sends a message to your body to put energy into improving in those ways! This movement challenge is all about mobility and squatting/ sitting strength in these particular positions. Therefore, a great thing that you can do is to mimic the pattern while using your hands to help make it easier.
For example, to make this movement challenge a little easier you could place your hands on the floor (in front of you during the squat and behind you during the sit) to give support while still working through the primary pattern. To make it even easier you could also grab onto a sturdy nearby object like a doorway to help support yourself during the squat. Over time you would seek to use your hands less and less until you can do the full pattern. It won't happen overnight, but you can make great progress like this!
The same principle applies during a more traditional exercise like a lunge. If you have trouble standing up from a lunge then you could do then standing facing a doorframe and use the doorframe to help lower and raise yourself during the lunge. Over time you would seek to use the doorframe less and less.
OPTION 2 - REDUCE THE RANGE OF MOTION
One aspect of this particular movement challenge that you might find difficult is getting back up from the sitting position. One way to make that easier is to reduce the range of motion of the movement. Instead of sitting all the way to floor, place a couple of books or a thick cushion behind you and sit on it instead. You won't have to move up and down as far and hence it will be easier! Gradually over time, reduce the height of the object that you're sitting on and eventually you'll be able to do it from the floor!
You can apply this principle to other movements and more traditional exercises as well. For example, if you're learning to do push ups and can't get your chest all the way to the floor and back up again with control then you might choose to place a book (or 2, 3, 4 etc) between your chest and your floor to reduce the range of motion. The book gives you a target so you know how far you are moving. It also keeps you honest and moving the same amount each time! Gradually over time you would use a thinner book until you could go all the way to the floor.
CONCLUSIONS
There are two ways that you can make all sorts of different exercises and movements easier to suit your current abilities! This is exactly what we do at the gym every day for our clients. I'm sure that if you've looked at all the movements we show on our Facebook and Instagram pages you've thought to yourself that it would be great to be able to do them; but I also think that it's likely that you've wondered whether you'd be able to! The simple answer is that you might currently be able to do them or you might not; but progressions like these are how we teach all our clients like you how to do them! With good progressions like these you will succeed!
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