Exercise As A Lifestyle Stinks

Have you ever heard the saying “exercise is a lifestyle”?  I am pretty sure we all have heard it and we REALLY need to cut it out and stop saying it.  Let me tell you why.

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Why do some people say this?  Because the true and best changes from exercise are seen with consistency and long-term efforts.

But, what does it sound like is being said?  Exercise must dominate your life.

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The Struggle Of Exercise

The benefits of exercise are waiting and are too great to be ignored, but the struggle to actually do exercise is REAL.

I am a personal trainer in Schaumburg.  Being a personal trainer does not mean that I love to workout.  Being a personal trainer means that I love learning about the opportunities that exercise can provide when applied appropriately to the body.  I love learning and exploring this opportunity of exercise so much that I made it a profession.

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What does muscle have to do with it?

As a Muscle Activation Techniques™ (MAT™) specialist and personal trainer in Schaumburg, I know that many people seek out MAT™ because it makes A LOT of people feel better!  This is one reason why I absolutely LOVE MAT™ and why I love being an MAT™ Specialist.

There is one problem with this, though.  MAT™ does not treat pain.  It never has and never will.  In this blog post, I want to discuss what you can expect from an MAT™ session and how you can know you are making progress, even when pain symptoms are not changing.  

Let’s start with the obvious, again.  MAT™ does not treat pain.

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Is Compensation Actually Bad?

When you hear the word compensation, what do you usually think of?  Is it a word to describe something positive or negative?  Something normal or abnormal?  Something done out of abundance or inadequacy?  As a personal trainer in Schaumburg, this is often a topic of discussion.

A quick Google search brings up two prominent definitions for compensation:

  1. The money provided to an employee for their work, or to a party due to loss, injury or suffering.
  2. Something that counterbalances or makes up for an undesirable or unwelcome state of affairs.

As it relates to exercise and movement, the second definition above is typically how compensation is used.  Compensation usually labels a movement that is done in a manner outside of the parameters that we find to be “normal,” “correct,” or “appropriate.”  Essentially, we use this to describe a movement that is not “perfect.”

I want to challenge you to start thinking about compensation as a description of all movement.

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Fitness – We Have Been Taught To Focus On The Wrong Thing

As a personal trainer in Schaumburg, I am seeing that the fitness field today is all about what’s HOT, NEW, and TRENDY.  This stuff is attractive and appealing to the masses.  The good news is it is getting people into exercise.  However, did you know that there are actually scientific principles behind exercise that almost no developer behind HOT, NEW, and TRENDY fitness paths seem to consider?

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Group Fitness and Personal Training

Both group fitness and personal training are great things, right?  But have you considered how different they are?

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Growing up I was a dancer.  In fact, my dance company competed a lot at competitions with other dance companies.  What I loved about dance was not learning the technique, or learning the steps, or memorizing the choreography.  I loved performing on stage.

And you know what?  I won.  All. The. Time.  Best facial expressions.  Best costume.  Best role playing.  All this, and I still often forgot the ‘real’ dance stuff.  I was awful at choreography, memorization, and technique.  BUT, I could perform.  And that ALWAYS stole the judges’ hearts. (more…)