Mirrors For Body Awareness!

We had a conversation with our clients this morning in our boot camp class that we found super interesting - it was all about mind-muscle connection and the awareness (or lack thereof) of how our bodies move and how that translates into sport, fitness, and everyday life...

It's true that some people can "feel" what their bodies are doing and know whether or not they are replicating an exercise properly, and those are also the folks who typically take cues well and have no problem translating words into a physical manifestation.

It's super easy to imagine that you could demonstrate a movement correctly for someone, and then ask them to do what you just did... But sometimes, if a person lacks body awareness and the skill of being able to "talk" to their body and have it do what's asked, the result is vastly different than what was requested. It's fascinating, really!

But the most interesting part, in my opinion, is that some people just have absolutely no idea that what they're doing isn't the same as what was demonstrated.

"Make yours like mine."

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(Honestly, if anyone gets the above reference I will be beyond delighted!)

Anyway, if this body awareness doesn't come naturally and isn't learned throughout childhood, not all is lost... Although can be difficult to forge new patterns in adulthood and it sometimes requires undoing odd or unhelpful habits in movement, it CAN be done!

If you don't have a resourceful, articulate trainer helping you along, and even if you do, one of the best tools you have at your disposal is a mirror. Almost all gyms have them, and for sure you have at least one at home, and they're not just there so you can admire your "gainzzz" (though that's a nice perk)...

If you're learning on your own, read about the exercises you're doing and watch a shitload of videos. Pick out the most frequent and most important cues, and self-check! Ask yourself questions, and don't be afraid if making the changes is hard at first. Almost always when you make a form change for the better in exercise, it gets harder. But exercise is supposed to be challenging, so embrace it!

Hold yourself accountable and make every rep perfect until it becomes second nature.

Ultimately, doing your exercises correctly and completely (full range of motion, etc.) is what will get you the results you're looking for... All of our tried-and-true exercises have been designed and implemented in specific ways for a reason! So if you're not doing exercises properly, not only are you more prone to injury but you're literally just spinning your wheels. And we all know...

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So get yourself in front of a mirror and pick your form apart! Once it looks absolutely perfect, close your eyes and do a few reps, concentrating on what it feels like in your body to move it in the proper way. Open your eyes at different points during your reps to see if what you feel matches what you see, and adjust as needed. You can also film your movements on your phone if you want to be more high-tech about it... :)

It might be annoying, but it sure is worth it. You'll move more safely, more efficiently, and get more results :) what's not to like about all that?? Don't quit until you nail it!

Need some help? Reach out!

Please feel free to comment, upvote, or resteem if you'd like! :)