Since I moved out to Cambridge, I’ve wanted to purchase and start going through a mobility program. I want to continue doing CrossFit type movements for my exercise, but I’ve got some issues with a couple areas of my body that I also want to work on while I have a bit of a mandatory hiatus on lifting heavy weights regularly. To that end, back in November, I purchased myself a full year of the Move U program during the Black Friday sale.
The Move U program is not just a mobility program. It’s more like a whole-body manual. Rather than just getting to work on a specific body part that is causing issues, I found myself starting with a 5 week program focusing on Back and Core. And this program is just the beginner Back and Core program; there are other levels of Back and Core that I will likely get into later – once one finishes Back and Core level 1, it’s recommended to either go into level 2 or to move to another region of the body.
I think that I’ll be moving to Hips and Glutes level 1 once I finish Back and Core level 1, because working through BC1 has already changed my awareness of how to sit and stand with correct posture. And that awareness has helped me feel how standing and sitting with correct posture changes how my feet are positioned. And the change of my foot position affect my ankle position, my knee position, and how my ilio-tibial band sits. I have felt each of those areas being affected and changed by the new ways that I’m standing and sitting, how I’m holding my back straight and how I’m holding my legs.
I have been told to stand up straight my whole life. Stand up straight and stop swaying when I stand. These commands never made sense to me. Stand up straight, I’d hear, and I’d try to do it, but not with the right muscles. Stop swaying, I’d hear, and I’d try, but such attempts rarely lasted more than a couple minutes before the sway would start again. Because I didn’t realized just how much my glutes had to do with standing properly.
This program is teaching me exactly which muscles are the ones I’m supposed to be using. It feels like a revelation. Like I finally understand what it means to stand up straight and to stand still. Over 10 years of doing CrossFit, I’ve come to ascribe to the ‘motion is lotion’ theory of thought. Movement begets movement. And correct movement begets correct movement. I’m moving with more awareness now, and I’ve only just begun. I’m excited to start that next program and see what additional benefits I can glean from each program and then each level. I kind of figured that I wouldn’t want to stop with just one program, which is why I waited for the big Black Friday sale instead of purchasing it earlier with a monthly subscription.