Movement
4 minute read
Why Range Is the First Thing You Lose
No two bodies move the same, especially when you're comparing your 50-year-old body to your 20-year-old body. Understanding your own range, accepting where you are today, and reclaiming what you've quietly lost is where intelligent training begins.
When I was growing up, movement wasn't something I thought about. It was simply what we did.
Like many kids, I played sport constantly, and by my late teens I was in the gym six or seven days a week while still playing basketball most days. Looking back, I probably confused effort with intelligence. If something hurt, you brushed it off. If you rolled an ankle, you taped it up and kept going. Recovery was tomorrow's problem.
The funny thing about youth is that it lets you get away with almost everything.
Then one day it doesn't.
As the years go by, range quietly becomes the first thing you lose.
Not strength.
Not motivation.
Not even fitness.
Range.
You notice it tying your shoes.
Sitting into a squat.
Looking over your shoulder while reversing the car.
Getting up off the floor.
The body starts whispering long before it starts shouting.
For me, that's where The Arnold Method really began.
Not as a program.
As a way of thinking.
Over three decades of coaching, travelling, teaching yoga, working with athletes, martial artists and everyday people has taught me that movement isn't separate from strength.
Breath isn't separate from recovery.
Mobility isn't something you do for ten minutes after a workout because somebody on Instagram told you to.
It's all connected.
Some days your body needs to lift heavy.
Some days it needs to move slowly.
Some days it needs to walk.
Breathe.
Stretch.
Recover.
The goal isn't to train harder every day.
The goal is to keep the foundations well oiled for decades.
I'm fortunate that my career has allowed me to teach movement around the world while raising a family and continuing to train myself.
But I'm also the first to admit that when I stop moving well, or stop paying attention, I lose range just like everyone else.
Movement doesn't care how much you used to lift. It only responds to what you do consistently today.
That's why I believe movement is the platform everything else sits on.
Strength.
Longevity.
Adventure.
Sport.
Travel.
Playing with your kids.
Growing older without becoming smaller.
Because intelligent training isn't about chasing the body you had twenty years ago.
It's about building the body you'll still be grateful for twenty years from now.