Author: Emma Hill
The fitness industry is ever-changing. New medical advancements and fads cause people to experiment when it comes to getting and staying fit. These fads come and go because they don’t bring consistent and reliable results that the body needs to progress.
As one trend fades, another is always there to replace it. The problem with these fitness programs that try to pass themself off as exercise that’s “good” for you and these philosophies is that they approach exercise in the wrong way. As any good pilot will tell you it’s all about the approach when it comes to getting back safely on solid ground–going wheels up is the easy part.
1. Appeals to enjoyment rather than effectiveness.
Exercise is often portrayed as something that should be easy and fun.
A lot of those who like to “practice” these fun exercises and the approach behind them end up with more injuries, body fat, frustration, and are worse off than when they started. That is the point at which they come to us–to fix all the mistakes that are placed on them all for the sake of “fun.”
Instead of placing the building blocks of strength, and increasing your physical abilities to go towards your goals advance these “fun exercises” are building at the other end a longer road and increasing the time it takes for you to reach your desired goals. Be it fitness-related or addressing chronic pain.
Unfortunately, any type of fun exercise” is actually an “activity,” and not exercise at all. True Exercise will require a lot of effort and dedication, and cannot be adjusted to be more enjoyable. If you want to give your body what it needs and get long-lasting results in a short amount of time, you can’t waste your time replacing true exercise with activities.
To remind you, according to RyseUP Rehab exercise is “A process whereby the body performs work of a demanding nature, in accordance with muscle and joint function, in a clinically-controlled environment, within the constraints of safety, meaningfully loading the muscular structures to inroad their strength levels to stimulate a growth mechanism within minimum time.”
So when it comes to exercise, we have results backed by science that prove we are here not to mess around with your time which is no doubt valuable to you.
We are here to teach you a way to increase how much “fun” you actually can have outside of Exercising once you learn to do it the most efficient way. Over time, this will not only give you your time back, because you won’t have to work out for hours but your ability to do the things you enjoy will increase. We are giving you true Exercise that increases your body’s ability to perform and do the things you love now, so you can do them a long time from now too.
2. More exercise is better.
A general misconception about exercise is that as you become more advanced, it will require more of your time. Not here–not at RyseUP Rehab, as you progress it actually takes less time. Also with traditional weight lifting techniques, to prevent injury you usually get assigned more stretches, and band work in addition to your workout, which only adds to your workout time in the long run.
Under this assumption, it may appear that progress is only attainable if you spend hours at the gym. In reality, exercising too much can impact your ability to recover and it can cause long-term damage to your muscles and joints if exercise is carried to the point of being volume, and time heavy.
Less can actually be more with the right training program and the right approach— that’s why we created SITx the foundation of all our advanced protocols you can use in your journey to help your body rather than hinder your wanted and needed progress.
At RyseUP Rehab, as you become more advanced, your session frequency will actually decrease. You also do not need to add additional “exercises” to your session.
This will leave plenty of time to rest and recover so that you can come to each session and push your muscles to deeper levels of Momentary Muscle Failure (MMF). Full recovery between sessions will empower you to get the most benefits, including losing weight, gaining muscle, increase body function, and enjoy doing daily activities with those you love.
At RyseUP Rehab, we see exercise as a cycle: prepare, perform, and recover. This cycle gives you the full ability to perform in your everyday life, and enjoy doing what you love.
Each step is essential so that you can strengthen your body in a healthy and safe way. You don’t need more hours at the gym, you just need the right exercises for your body in a short amount of time.
3. Cardio. Cardio. Cardio.
Oh goodness, where did this trend start? It started with a man named Kenneth Cooper who had no interest in helping people get stronger through proper loading of their muscles but to spend more time running, an activity.
In 1968, Kenneth Cooper took the idea of maintaining a steady state
(Steady state implies a balance of input and output. In this case, to run far you have to pace yourself.) during exercise and he developed an exercise philosophy that has become widely known. Perhaps you’ve heard of it… it’s called Aerobics.
The term Aerobics was taken from the biochemistry term aerobic, the study of metabolic pathways in the human body. Cooper added an “s” and capitalized it, and it became a new marketing term. Aerobics is the title of his book, his clinic, and his new exercise philosophy that he worked to promote a running program in the Army.
Kenneth Cooper, and Aerobics made running very popular and was marketed as exercise. Now that word is not as widespread as the word cardio a very popular approach to fitness derived from Aerobics.
Cardio is a philosophy that takes the idea that you can work your heart by placing it on a steady state machine or “anti-inroading” device like a treadmill. The fact is that any cardiologist will tell you is the heart is an involuntary muscle. Meaning you or I have no control over the contractions of the heart and not only that but the heart is dependant on the skeletal muscle!
Aerobics and Cardio do not fit within the definition of Exercise, because they are both steady stare.
4. Resting after an injury.
After any injury, some rest may be required. However, we need to keep in mind that rest should be limited, and it is a short-term period. One of the main ways we lose strength and mobility is by discontinuing the exercise. In order to recover from an injury, you must exercise throughout your rehabilitation. If you stop exercising completely, your muscles will begin to atrophy and it will be much more difficult to return to normal daily activities.
Exercise, by our definition, will always be safe to complete. You will never be encouraged to push past the pain threshold or boundary, but rather we will rehabilitate muscles and ligaments such as tendons according to their natural function. This will allow you to recover faster and avoid losing mobility as you heal.
As we strengthen your muscles and tendons, you will experience increased joint stability which can protect you against future injuries. If you fail to work your muscles hard enough, you will hit a roadblock in your recovery.
5. Walking is the best exercise you can do if you are injured
In some cases, injured individuals are encouraged to do low-impact “exercise” as they recover. More often than not, this low-impact “exercise” is walking. Because walking is a natural part of our daily tasks, it is seen as a safe activity that won’t cause further injury.
The problem is that it also won’t help us to recover faster. Why? Because it doesn’t work the skeletal muscles hard enough to produce any benefit. The muscles are unevenly loaded through the pelvis as you walk and the muscles do some work but they are not loaded meaningfully to produce a growth stimulus.
Walking is a low-intensity, steady state activity, and walking does not focus on strengthening your muscles. It may be true that it won’t injure you further, but increasing the amount you walk just leads back to the trap of dedicating more time to an activity that won’t bring the results you need. You need exercise–plain and simple. Muscles are the only thing that move us and if you want to move without pain you need to exercise according to the definition above.
The fitness industry has really evolved over time, and like our name we believe that there is a better way. We need to Ryse up to the way we exercise and apply Fitness to our lives. Fitness is a marketing term as well which implies your body being able to continually build up strength and live life to the fullest without pain. We believe that Exercise is the pathway to real fitness, and to get your life back.
If you’re looking for a low-impact exercise that will help you to recover faster and protect you against future injuries, the foundational principles of SITx that make up true Exercise is what you are looking for.
It’s safer for your body than laying in your bed at night, and it has been shown to increase bone density and strengthen the body by working the muscles in a way to force an adaptation to increase desired benefits–some of which have been mentioned here.
But there is so much more to experience and these effective, efficient and time-proven principles can be learned by anyone of any age who has a basic comprehensive reading level. What is great is whether you want to understand or not once they are applied you can move forward pain and worry-free for life.
We are currently offering $10 off your first session, where you can see and feel the difference for yourself. You can get started here today, or you can call us to book an appointment at 801-449-0253.
Emma is currently a student studying editing and publishing with a minor in creative writing. She joined the team at RyseUP Rehab after participating in the program herself to treat injuries she received in a car accident. The exercises made a big difference in her life and have helped her to live the active life she wants to with less pain. Emma enjoys rock climbing, running, and spending time with her family.