May 3, 2016
A couple days ago I had the privilege of leading an outdoor workout at the Lululemon Showroom in downtown SLO and had 24 athletes join to learn our classic “vacation workout”. We love a good workout in the gym, but one that’s outside in the sunshine was refreshing!
Of those who joined us was a valued member of Gymnazo who brought her husband with her. After the workout she came up to me and shared with me that she’d noticed her husband’s feet, while doing a transverse (rotational) plane lunge, would start shifting out of alignment. She said she knew exactly why that was happening, his hip’s were tight, likely from sitting too much during the day, and since his flexibility was so limited in his hips, his feet would were trying to compensate. She even started to suggest appropriate stretches for her husband to do.
A good teacher knows he/she is successful when the student is empowered to apply the knowledge to themselves and others. It was a proud moment.
Not only was she on point, but I was pretty impressed that she had retained some of the specialized instruction we provide, and was able to not only see a movement limitations in another but understand why.
You may not know that this year I am privileged to be a facilitator for the Gray Institute GIFT program. I’m responsible to lead, instruct and mentor 90 movement professionals (mainly physical therapists, osteopaths, occupational therapists and trainers). It’s a great responsibility and with it I am able to walk trained professionals through biomechanics and Applied Functional Science. Observing first hand how confusing movement professionals, coming out of their graduate programs and even with decades of experience, are when it comes to understanding how the body works in three dimensional bio-mechanical chain reactions.
But what our member (a professional not in the movement or medical industry) observed and understood is profound in the movement world. She knew more about movement dysfunction than a Kinesiology student coming out of college would. That’s pretty powerful.
At Gymnazo we pride ourselves in the fact that above being truly uplifting encouragers of our members, we seek to be effective educators. We are geeks, you already know that. But we seek to have you join our ranks in the ability to understand your body and have solutions readily available to aide you inside and outside of our facility.
Stories like this uplift my spirit because it shows that when you truly understand the way our bodies were designed to move and why, you can simplify the body in ways that make your knowledge accessible for others.
So my hope in reading this is that you feel encouraged that you truly are learning complex concepts and for anyone who is adept at anticipating their modifications, you are far ahead of the game! I also hope you continue to stay curious, stay learning and always evolving.
One of our core values is to always innovate and evolve. We seek to take you with us into that journey that together we may be stronger and better with each workout.
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