A Different Approach to Fitness

"Hey Jim, I haven't seen you in a couple of months."

"I've been taking it easy. I had an operation on my left knee a few years ago and now my right knee is starting to hurt. I don't want to have to go through another operation so I tried using it less but that didn't really seem to help. I don't really know what the best thing to do is - should I use it less, or should I use it more?"

As a teacher of the Alexander Technique, my first thought was, "Why not use it differently?"

Experience has taught me that in most conversational situations it's best to keep such thoughts to myself. But Jim's question - "Should I use it more or should I use it less?" - has been bouncing around in my head for some time and caused me to wonder why most people never consider the "third option" - doing the same activities, but doing them in a different manner.

I think a lot has to do with current trends in fitness which emphasizes quantity above all else.

But it isn't only the number of miles run, the time spent doing aerobic exercises, or the heaviness of the weights lifted that matters. Far more important is the quality of our movements - our balance and coordination and our ease of breathing.

The crucial importance of the way we use our bodies is beginning to be recognized in other fields.

For example we know, as a result of recent scientific investigations, that the way we stand, sit and perform activities - in other words or posture and how we adapt it to changing circumstances - has a major impact on the amount and kind of pressure we put on our bodies and, consequently, on our personal chances of suffering pain - in our knees, our hips, our backs, even in our shoulders and neck.

The importance of posture is also now well understood by arthritis researchers. As Dr. Frederic McDuffie, former Medical Director of the Arthritis Foundation, explains: "Bad posture can lead to more pain for a person with arthritis because it puts unnecessary stress on joints and muscles. It can also contribute to deformities of the hips, ankles, knees and spine." It is increasingly clear that the loss of our natural balance harms us in a variety of ways.

Go To Page: 1 2 3