When most people exercise, they are not utilizing a full range of motion. For example, when you go for a run, walk, or bike ride, your hips move in only one direction (forward), while your shoulders generally don’t move at all. Or at the gym, you may do an array of exercises and a multitude of reps, yet how often do you lift your arms above your head or rotate your torso in either direction or move your body sideways?

If you are not using a full range of motion when you exercise, your body will work in a compensatory fashion: Rather than recruiting the major muscles originally designed to do the work, it will call upon only the smaller muscles that don’t require as much energy to function. For instance, when most people perform push-ups, they rely on their biceps and forearms to do the work. However, when you’re properly aligned, push-ups are a great total-body exercise that engages larger muscles, especially your abs, which in turn expends much more energy.

Having more than 40 years of experience in the fitness world (much of it working with some of the world’s top athletes), I also know that how you work out impacts what you eat and how much you drink. When you put those bigger muscles to work, you alter the body’s cravings for fuel. Your muscles need protein, nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, and water to recover. So if you find yourself wanting more lean meats and salads and less chips and soda when you move more, that’s why.

Related: Why a Dehydrated Person Might Not Get Thirsty

The Fun, Quick, and Effective Workout You Need

I want everyone to achieve optimal fitness in less time. So I’m excited to announce that I teamed up with Sonima to create Elev8d Fitness. This program is for everyone, including the super busy and non-busy, those with aches and without, and longtime fitness junkies as well as folks just starting out with exercise or coming back after a long hiatus.

Elev8d is based on eight core movements that compel a full range of motion. The exercises in the eight-, 16-, and 24-minute workouts are arranged in a very specific order, which helps align your body. These short, fun routines will improve your fitness, no matter your current level, and they can be used as a warm-up to other activity.

The only requirement is that you do an Elev8d routine at least four times a week. That might sound like a lot, but remember, each workout is short, and a body responds to the stimulus it’s provided. If the body is going to respond effectively to a new routine that involves a full range of motion, then that routine needs to happen regularly, thereby, convincing the body that there’s a change to the daily stimulus pattern it receives.

Elev8d is also based on fun. I have long said that two essential ingredients to fitness are full range of motion and fun. I am extremely excited about the advent of Elev8d Fitness and hope you are too. Fitness really can be more enjoyable and less time-consuming than we’ve come to think. Just wait and see!

Transform your body in less time with these popular Elev8d Fitness workouts and programs!

8-Minute Sculpted Butt and Hips Workout
16-Minute Core Stability and Strength Workout
8-Minute Strength Workout Series
Flat Belly Workout Series
Total-Body At-Home Workout Series

The post Your Workouts Really Don’t Need to Be That Long appeared first on Sonima.

Our world has become all about measurement and data. Much to our detriment, many have come to believe that everything can be measured and, therefore, should be. Fitness has not escaped that trend, and working out has become an issue of external measurements. It’s about your body mass index. Or your heart rate. Or how many crunches you can do in two minutes. Or what weight you’re maxing out at on the bench press. Or how many steps you took today.

It’s as if going out for a terrific run doesn’t matter unless we achieve a pinpoint goal of how long we ran or how far we ran and how quickly we ran it. Or playing for an hour with your kids on the jungle gym doesn’t really matter because there’s really no way to measure the physical impact of that play.

There’s an even more insidious measurement of our fitness, and that’s our appearance. We do more and more sit-ups because we want those six-pack abs. We pound more and more miles on that treadmill because we’re trying to lose those flabby saddlebags at the base of our buttocks. We bike more and more miles to shed those love handles and get those chiseled calves. We don’t play soccer with our kids or friends because, well, we’re just not sure how many calories that will burn, and we know exactly the minimum of calories we need to burn each day if we want to look a certain way, so we do intervals around the track instead while they play on the field within.

It is this focus on these external measurements, the numbers and the appearance, that’s leading to our fitness fatigue. Let me explain.

First, the numbers game. Part of the reason it’s impossible to judge fitness by numbers is that the numbers keep changing. The rules are never the same. To make my point, I turn first to nutrition. Some of you are old enough to remember the time that butter was bad for you, so we all ate margarine. Now, turns out, both butter and margarine have their pros and cons, or at least that’s the story this year. Then all fats were bad for you, except now there’s actually a good kind of fat. Or fruits are fine, but just don’t eat them in the morning or too much since they’re high in sugar. Or red meat is off-limits. No, wait, Paleo dieters love it, so actually it’s good. Frankly, I forget what it is these days.

It’s the same with all the numbers around fitness. We should all be walking 10,000 steps (just under 5 miles) per day, and we’ve even got little devices to count those steps. Once we hit 10,000, it was a good day for our body. Or we should all be doing 30 minutes of aerobic exercise four days a week, and if we do, we reduce our chances of a heart attack by 50 percent. Or was it 150 minutes of exercise per week, which is a half-hour five days a week, not four? No matter, next year, on New Year’s Day, when we get all those articles about fitness that coincide with the annual resolution to push for a new you, the standard of measurement will have changed. See what I mean by this madness of numbers? It’s very difficult to feel like you’re winning any game where the rules keep changing.

True fitness requires peace of mind, and if you’re entire routine of fitness is based on discipline, rigor, doing more and doing it harder, then you cannot achieve peace of mind as it relates to your fitness.

As for appearance, well, let’s start with the abs, which is a very common measure of looks. If you are going to the gym to achieve a washboard stomach, it’s safe to say you are unhappy with your appearance. If that’s the case, then it becomes almost impossible ever to be happy, no matter how taut and ripped those abs become. That level of self-judgment makes it almost unrealistic to ever approve of yourself in any form. We’ve all seen these people in the gyms and in our lives. Working out is about achieving perfection, and perfection is an unfeasible standard in everything, including fitness. What’s more, bodily perfection is driven by ego, and feeding the ego is like feeding any addiction: no matter how much you give it, it only wants more.

And so we keep going to the gym. And going to the gym. And going to the gym. Or we switch and start pedaling the bike. And pedaling the bike. And pedaling the bike. Or now we do routines with kettle bells, and more routines and more routines. But when does it end? When are you satisfied with your numbers or your appearance? For too many people, that satisfaction is an unattainable holy grail. But they keep going and going and going, and is it any wonder they’re fitness fatigued? We keep physically active to achieve goals that are either arbitrary or impracticable, and I believe much of the fatigue is borne of the subconscious knowledge that what we’re doing isn’t really working and isn’t any fun.

To avoid fitness fatigue, we need a new measurement for what it is to be fit, and for me, that measurement is internal. True fitness requires peace of mind, and if you’re entire routine of fitness is based on discipline, rigor, doing more and doing it harder, then you cannot achieve peace of mind as it relates to your fitness. Fitness is a calm sense of well-being. Now, that’s not to suggest that there are no physical components to fitness. Clearly, someone who is 70 pounds overweight is not fit, but then I have never met anyone who is obese or who thinks he’s overweight who exudes peace of mind. By the same token, I have met absolute physical specimens with nary an ounce of fat who live their lives in a state of agitation because those perfect bodies still aren’t what they want them to be. They are just as agitated as the person 70 pounds overweight.

The main remedy for fitness fatigue is fun. It’s spontaneous application of movement. It’s approaching your exercise not with the answer why, but the question, “Why not?” This way of thinking is the operative ethic behind Patch Fitness workouts. Yes, they compel the body to move in different directions across different planes to achieve a full range of motion for all joints, and there is definitely a physical benefit to that, but they also get your body on the ground and over logs and on top of benches and moving backwards or sideways and walking on all fours because it’s fun. When you get lost in the fun of a workout, you no longer care about numbers or specific goals. You just play. And the body reaps the benefits.

Related: The Most Important Element Missing From Your Workout

Believe me, I know many of the lords of fitness in today’s world are scoffing at what I’m saying here, but for a minute, just tune out all that they’ve said and listen to your heart on these questions: If the existing fitness industry were really offering you a viable solution to your fitness needs, why are there so many fitness fads? If you’re not having fun with that gym workout, how long do you really think you’re going to continue doing it? And how good is it for your body when you’ve essentially quit all forms of fitness because it became drudgery?

I don’t care who’s telling you how many steps you need to take today. If you’d rather spend the afternoon gardening, you should spend the afternoon gardening, and you’ll be more fit because of it. I don’t care what elevated heartrate you may achieve with a cardio workout, if you’d rather spend the next hour all over the playground with your child, then you should go to the playground, and you’ll actually be more fit because of it.

One more thing: If you’re tired today, skip that run and take a nap instead. It’s what your body is asking for. We have become so enamored with measuring things that we’ve come to believe that if something can’t be measured, it has no value. Therefore, we’ve come to believe that the only fitness that is worthwhile is that which can be measured externally. The fitness that matters most is gauged internally, where things can’t be measured.

The post Are You Suffering from Fitness Fatigue? appeared first on Sonima.

The question came as a bit of a revelation to Egoscue. Instinctively, he knew he could improve their conditioning. Years of experience studying all of the body’s joints and muscles and how they’re interconnected had long prepared him to create the exact fitness plan they needed. Yet, it hadn’t occurred to him to devise an exercise program using his extensive knowledge of the anatomy until right then. Without much hesitation, he responded, “I think I could. Follow me.”

They walked about three-quarters of a mile from Egoscue’s first clinic in San Diego (he now has 26 clinics worldwide) to a horse show park, an outdoor space where equestrian and dressage riders practiced hurdling over both permanent and temporary obstacles with their horses. A former Marine, Egoscue was well-versed in how obstacle-course training can make you fit and strong. So to him, this place was perfect for what he had in mind, especially since it was set outside (nothing like fresh air and mother nature to inspire you to move).

Related: 25 Beautiful Places in the World to Find Peace of Mind

“It was very challenging, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. You felt good when you were done. And no matter how tired you felt going through it, you felt energized, too,” Egoscue recalls of his fitness regimen for the military.  Back then, however, Egoscue didn’t see the obstacle course as much more than a means to an end. It took him a few more years to connect the dots—combining his later acquired knowledge of the anatomy and unique insights on the role posture plays in our health—to fully understand why those courses were so effective.

“It’s all about negotiating obstacles in various positions and circumstances. It’s an inclusive, holistic way of conditioning that compels the body to work in the way it was designed to work. Bicycling, jogging—these are beneficial, but they don’t promote balance and strength in a varied array of positions. They don’t promote the health of joints and full range of motion, and therefore, don’t boost the metabolism as much. That’s what makes people feel energized—that metabolism boost,” Egoscue explains. That experience maneuvering obstacle courses as a Marine was exactly what Egoscue aimed to replicate with those high school students at the equestrian show park. And he hit a bullseye.

Watching the boys, Egoscue realized he had stumbled upon an ideal means of exercise: An enjoyable way to produce balance, strength and endurance. Of course, he knew he had discovered nothing new. After all, he was only harking back to fitness techniques he had learned in the military.  But during a time when so much fitness had turned (and continues to turn) to the specialization of skills, isolation of muscles, repetition of routines and reduced range of motion, he had been reawakened to the importance of full functional movement in our conditioning.

“Word spread about what I was teaching these kids,” Egoscue remembers. Soon enough, he started training others in the show park, devising exercises and arranging them in a specified order—and people were loving it. Some even asked him to design and build a unit of obstacles that they could do anywhere, anytime. For those who couldn’t meet in the San Diego park, Egoscue created a structure—a series of bases and beams (pictured above)—that people could go over, under and around anywhere.

Over, under and around make up a key concept for functional movement, which is the element that makes the Patch—as Egoscue’s new exercise program later became called—such an effective workout. The young boys had come up with the name for the stretch of commercial tomato patches dividing Egoscue’s clinic from the show park.

“Functional means allowing the human body to fall into its natural groove of movement. If you get on the ground, go over things, under things and around things, you’re eventually going to get more functional. You coax the body to perform natural movement patterns,” says Brian Bradley, postural alignment specialist and vice president of Egoscue. These are the same patterns that may have been lost or neglected due to a sedentary lifestyle.

It all harks back to one of Egoscue’s earliest claims, fully explored in his first book, The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion: The more we move our bodies in ways that promote full range of motion, the healthier those bodies will be. Even folks who hit the gym regularly are often not as healthy as they could be.

“So much of what we do in the gym is about trying to be perfect in our form,” Bradley says. “First, that’s just not natural. Second, and ironically, by striving to be ‘perfect’ and even symmetrical, people in gyms are losing their natural balance. They’re inadvertently strengthening and working one side harder than the other. With the Patch, people naturally achieve balance through their bodies working as a unit.”

It’s that whole-body aspect that makes the Patch so efficient. Many forms of exercise, especially in the gym (think bench pressing, squats, even lunges or rowing) utilize just parts or peripheries of the body.

“Every single exercise we use in the Patch tires every muscle,” Bradley says. “That’s why a 15- or 20-minute routine from the Patch is worth two days of normal training. It’s also a great warm-up for any type of training you might do afterward. It centers your balance and makes you a hip-driven mover. By using your hips, your body gets twice the result with half the effort.”

And it doesn’t stop there.  “As your day unfolds and you do the activities of normal daily living, your body continues to get more functionally strong and balanced because of the changes that occurred in the Patch workout that you did earlier that day or a couple days prior. Every step you take after the Patch enhances the effects of the Patch.”

While there is an actual Patch apparatus, a series of plastic, portable bases and beams that Egoscue designed and that can be moved inside or out if you happen to own one, the fact is, a Patch routine can be done anywhere. It does not require a specific space or a specific setting. “It just requires you, your imagination and your surroundings,” says Egoscue. “Any outdoor setting with a bench or stairs or playground becomes a Patch. Any indoor setting for that matter, with tables or benches or chairs.”

The cherry on top: Doing the Patch is actually fun—though you won’t catch Bradley using that word to describe it. Making the program sound too playful has its disadvantages. People might be less inclined to take it seriously. But Egoscue is often quick to point out that originally, all forms of what we have come to call exercise were predicated on the notion of play and fun. It’s only in recent decades, and largely in America, fitness has become an obligation more than a joy—for adults, that is, not kids.

“Watch a group of kids running around a playground. They’re exercising like crazy, but they don’t know it. They just think they’re playing and having fun,” notes Egoscue. “Same with the Patch. It’s a hell of a workout, but it’s all disguised as pure, unadulterated, childlike fun.”

Photo by Hailey Wist

The post Unlock Your Body’s Fullest Potential with Patch Fitness appeared first on Sonima.