Functional movement refers to the movements our bodies are called upon to perform on a regular basis.  There are six fundamental movement patterns our bodies must be able to perform in order to move optimally and live injury free: bend, squat, lunge, push, pull, and twist.  Everything we do, from mowing the lawn and taking out the trash to playing basketball, is a combination of two or more of these fundamental movements.  If we are inhibited or limited in any of these movements, then our training, physical conditioning, and body awareness are also impaired.

When designing any exercise program, I first like to assess a client’s movement patterns.   So, I use a Functional Movement Screen (FMS) developed by physical therapist Gray Cook.  The FMS tells me where the “weak link” in a client’s body lies.  If he or she can’t perform a movement pattern properly, then I know it is likely due to a limitation or weakness. If left unaddressed, these imbalances may lead to poor performance and/or injury.  With the information that I glean from the Functional Movement Screen, I can then design a corrective exercise program to bring the body back in balance.  The FMS also gives me a baseline to gauge future progress. It takes only a few minutes to perform the entire screen whenever I want to see how effective our corrective exercise program has been.

Gray Cook has written a book, Athletic Body in Balance,  I highly recommend picking it up if you want a do-it-yourself version of the FMS and corrective exercise program.  For all my New York readers,  give me a call (212-FURTHER) and I will be happy to take you through a complimentary screening myself.

Jamie Dreyer is a co-founder of Blog Further and President of Further Fitness NYC.

This has happened many times in my twelve years as a trainer:

A client comes in for a session and is expecting me to give them a hard workout but they look worn out before we even start.  I can see their exhaustion (perhaps brought on by emotional distress, not enough quality food, or too little sleep) in their dull stares.  So we begin with a light warm-up and they huff and grunt as if it were their heavy set.  Nothing about the workout appears to be pleasurable, just painful and torturous.  Within ten minutes I make the call to switch to a much lighter workout, one that requires no weights, just some deep breathing, stretching and laying on a mat.

From what I can tell, there are two reasons people work out when they should be resting instead.  The first is that they simply don’t know why they shouldn’t.  While working out regularly with moderate to high intensity exercise does increase immune function over the long term, exercising actually suppresses your immune system for the short term.  It’s a stressor.  If you work out while you feel run down or sick, you are greatly increasing the likelihood of getting worse.  And that is counter-productive and no fun.

The second reason is guilt. I can’t tell you how many times I have had clients show up for a session terribly sick and when I ask them why they hadn’t cancelled, they replied,

I didn’t want to be lazy.

LAZY?!  These are usually the same people who hold demanding executive level positions, train three to five times a week, take piano and cooking lessons and volunteer with the local Big Brothers Big Sisters.  I doubt being lazy has ever been a problem of theirs.  Clients who don’t take sick days from the gym due to guilt seem to have a much harder time changing their workout habits.  Perhaps this is because guilt can be such a loaded emotion carrying with it a long history.

So what do I do when clients show up not feeling well?  My main focus is to release tension, circulate their blood and lymph, and aid in the body’s elimination of waste and toxins.  The idea is to help their body cope with and release the stress it is under through with a combination of light, flowing movements, deep breathing and stretching, similar to yoga.  I pay attention to how they respond.  If it is clear that even this light stretching proves too much, I tell them to go home and simply rest.

Instead of just continuing with your habitual routine the next time you are not feeling well, take a moment to check in with your body.  What is it saying to you?  Is it begging for a rest?  Is it telling you to head home and go to bed early?  Is it requesting an easy listening playlist?  I personally love reading a good book in my favorite armchair while listening to Cesaria Evora with a mug of herbal tea at my side.

The way to a healthy, strong body is not solely by intense workouts.  Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all.

Jamie Dreyer is a co-founder of Blog Further and the President of Further Fitness NYC.

This past weekend my eyes were opened to an entirely new way of approaching structural imbalances.  For those of you wondering what a structural imbalance is, it can most easily be described as asymmetry in the body— one shoulder higher than the other, a head tilt to the side, a rotation of the trunk.

I took a seminar called Posturology 101 where we learned how to chart.  Charting is an exhaustive method of recording someone’s three-dimensional posture.  Using this method, I can study the patterns in a client’s body and have a record to refer to after treating them to see if my methods are working.

A fellow participant was practicing charting on me and came to the hypothesis that my left femur was about 6mm longer than my right.  I have suspected this leg was longer than the other since childhood, when I would stand still for long stretches at church every Sunday morning, but never had a method to confirm it.  So I grabbed the 6mm thick foot lift they had in the room and placed it under my right foot, stood still and gazed into the mirror.  At first I felt some weird sensation in my lower right back, the same spot my chiropractor always adjusts.  After thirty seconds my lower back settled and felt great, as if I just had an adjustment.  Then I looked closer and realized my shoulders were even.  Cool!  My left shoulder has been higher since I can remember and no matter what I did in the past, it would stay that way.  My neck and head had also straightened out and my back felt wonderful after only one minute of standing with my right foot on a 6mm lift.

(The next thing for me to do is go to my chiropractor for an x-ray shot in a very specific way to confirm the leg length difference.  Then I will get a lift for as many of my shoes as possible.  Maybe then I can run without back pain.)

Before this weekend I knew the skull was made up of several bones and that in a healthy skull the bones shift freely.  But I thought it was to an imperceptible degree.  I now know better.  As the teacher was lecturing towards the end of our third day, he paused mid-sentence and stared at one of the students who was seated with her right leg crossed over her left, causing her hips to tilt.

Do you like to sit like that when you are learning?

Yea, I guess so.

Then he motioned for the rest of the class to stand by him and look at our fellow student’s face.

Uncross your legs and sit flat please.

As she did, something shifted in her face, but I could not detect what it was.

Re-cross them please.

Then I saw it.  When her feet were both flat on the floor, her right eye socket was lower than the left.  But as she crossed her legs, the bones comprising her right eye socket shifted, bringing her right eye nearly even with her left.  Witnessing this, I began to wonder: how does such a shift in posture and bone alignment effect her vision, balance, headaches, cognition, sinuses, and immune system? I was riveted! I still am.

Our teacher related other similar clinical observations and anecdotes about how patients have addressed learning challenges by changing their posture.  Scientific studies still need to be done and clearly the subject warrants more attention and research.  But while I wait for my NIH grant, I really want to practice some more charting.  So, if there are any willing guinea pigs out there, give me a call at 212-FURTHER.

Jamie Dreyer is the Co-founder of Blog Further and the President of Further Fitness NYC.

I want to share three You Tube videos with you.  One is funny, one is informative and one is inspirational.

This is how not to exercise.

If you have tension in your back or think that you have bad posture, try this thoracic mobilization two to three times a week for two sets of twelve repetitions.  What’s a thoracic mobilization you ask?  It’s a passive or active movement intended to increase the range of motion in your upper back.  This particular one is active.

I love this last one.  It puts tears in my eyes every time.  Try not to cry.  I dare you.

Do you have some favorite videos you would like to share? Send me the url.

Jamie Dreyer is the President of Further Fitness NYC.

I was training my client James the other morning when he began his weekly diatribe:

One of these days I will finally be consistent with working out and have a good body.

Although James does miss a week or two from time to time due to work or travel, he works out two to four times a week and has a beautiful, healthy body.  Let me also say that he is carrying more muscle than ever, recently took two inches off of his waist and said his remark as I was racking the dumbbells from the heaviest set of presses he has ever done in his life.  My reply was also the same as usual— my jaw dropped, I blinked twice and after a moment of silence told him to give himself more credit.  But then I asked him something new,

At what point will you feel your body is good?

His answer was a bit indirect but nonetheless clear to me.  He began asking about some of the other bodies in the room and whether or not it was realistic to achieve that without steroids.  Having known most everyone in the room for nearly ten years I assured him that his was the only body present that had never been aided by steroids.  But even if that hadn’t been the case, comparing his body to those around him was not a healthy way to judge his own success.  I quickly realized that he needed a better way of measuring his progress; otherwise, he would continue being disappointed with his results no matter how fantastic they were.I’ve had many clients and friends who lacked the healthy perspective necessary  to define what a real success would be.  Just last week I had to tell a very hard working and dedicated client that I could not support his ambitious goal of losing 65lbs. in 13 weeks.  My biggest concern is to have a client go through all the work of exercising regularly, eating better, improving their sleep habits, reducing their stress and achieving what anyone else would consider to be incredible results but not be able to enjoy them because they set the bar higher than any drug-free or healthy body could ever attain.Progress is not always going to be linear.  Your workouts are not always going to be consistent.  Work will be too busy for the gym some days.  Family and friends will make demands.  You will get sick.  One morning you will feel great about your body but come evening feel terrible, for seemingly no good reason.  You will have on days and you have off days.But there are countless ways to mark a success.  It may be the effortless ascension of a flight of stairs.  Newfound balance and coordination getting out of the tub.  No back pain this week.  Only took one sick day this winter and it was to play hooky with your lover.  Your sexy jeans fit again.  Carrying a child two blocks instead of one.  Seeing yourself again when you look into the mirror.I would like your measure of progress to be based on an overall improvement of performance and quality of life (sleep, stress levels, food quality, relationships, activity levels).  And instead of measuring improvement over the span of days or weeks, measure your progress over the span of a season or a year.  It just may be that the good body you seek is the body you are already living in.

Jamie Dreyer is the President of Further Fitness NYC.