Success = Breaking Your Routine

Most of us live a very regimented lifestyle, and society typically tailor things to the type A personality. Everything has to be in order, have structure and make logical sense. Which I totally agree with, I'm a very logical person myself and abide by all these guidelines... most of the time?

But what I've come to realize is this: While it's important to have a basic structure and routine for your daily lifestyle to keep consistency and productivity, it's equally important to break that structure and routine once in a while, probably more often than you think you should.

As one sticks to structure for too long, tension builds up over time and your mind or body will naturally collapse, (getting sick, stress, depression, anxiety, angry outbreaks etc.) forcing you to reset and start over.

This is why Vacations, diets, fasting, de-load/rest periods in workouts, on an off seasons in sports, lunch breaks etc. have been created. But this is generalized and not tailored to you.

If you know me, everything I preach is about balance, personal customization and building our own intuition so we learn to know what is best for us, at any given time, whenever we need it.

In regards to your workouts, there are general guidelines of course. The Fundamental Movements, number of reps, sets, duration, intensity etc. But remember, all these are simply Guidelines, not Rules.

I challenge you to NOT just follow the list of exercises and abide by the reps, sets etc. But to keep working on the fundamental movements and base your workout, reps, sets, and duration depending on how you feel instead of what is on your "routine for the day". Of course, it takes time to build your own intuition because we tend to not pay attention to ourselves since we are so focused on external factors of life.

So start the fundamental movements with a solid routine in the beginning. But once you get better at the routine, I challenge you to break the routine and listen to what your body is telling you, magical things will start happening and you'll end up knowing what you want to do to make your body feel better.

Let's break free from the social norms of what you HAVE to do and listen to your body so you end up doing what you WANT to do.

Much Love

Andy

The 6 Fundamental Movements

Most people cringe when they smell dirty underwear or food gone rancid. I cringe when I see poorly executed exercise programs and bad form. Too many "10min fat burning routines" or "Get shredded fast" routines are out there. Most of these routines are poorly designed and prone to lead to many muscular imbalances and injuries in the long run. If you want to lose weight, get toned, gain muscle, be healthy, have more energy etc. You MUST learn how to move properly first, once you can do that, every goal that you have wanted to achieved can be achieved, you just have to move!

This blogs main focus is to educate you about the most fundamental movements that should be incorporated in a workout program. Dan John, one of the best strength coaches in the world came up with the big 5. I added a couple more movements as accessory and corrective work:

• Push (Push ups, Bench press, Shoulder press, Sled Push)
• Pull (Rows, Lat pulldowns, Hamstring Bridges, Sled Pull)
• Hinge (Deadlifts, Single leg RDL's)
• Squat (Squats, lunges, lateral lunges, step up's)
• Loaded Carries (Farmer carries, Waiter walks)
• Rotation (Wood Chops, Cable rotations) and Anti-Rotation (Pallof press, planks with one leg extended to side)

If these 6 movement patterns are not incorporated in a weekly workout routine, a lot of muscle imbalances start happening and you are more prone to injuries over time. Most of us(including myself) do too much sitting and slouching with our eyes glued to the screen all day already. Then we do a lot of Push, Crunching and Squats, but not enough Pulling, Hinging and Loaded carrying exercises that cause our entire posture starts changing from bad... To worse.

My old man used to smack me on the back every 10 min to make me sit straight I was a kid. Then one day he got so fed up that he tied a cross to my back forcing me to sit up straight, that didn't work very well for my self-esteem, nor did it last very long. My posture only started getting better once I started working out correctly with the right selection of movements and incorporated corrective strategies to loosen up the tight muscles that are pulling our posture forward instead of pulling us upright. 

But main take away today is incorporate all 6 fundamental movements into your workout routine and you'll see a lot more balance and complete program!

Comment below if you have any questions!

Stay Healthy, Stay Motivated!