I’m coming close to my 90 day mark of doing the Move U program for at least 15 minutes a day, every day. I’ll admit, when I first started that program, I didn’t really understand what I was signing up for. I had followed Move U on Instagram for a while before deciding to commit to the program. I even did the 7 day free trial before fully committing during the Black Friday sale last November. But I managed to fumble my way into understanding.
The 15 minutes a day isn’t necessarily part of the program. You can go through the programs without worrying about 15 minutes every day, and you can do the 15 minutes every day without going through the programs. I usually use the program exercises as my 15 minutes, but doing them slowly and with great attention nearly always takes more than 15 minutes. They recommend starting with the Back and Core level 1 program, and I was shocked during that first week that I could spend more than 15 minutes just breathing with intention.
Another recommendation is to pull back on other exercising while working through the programs. I have taken a break from running, and not been doing much other exercise than what’s in the programs. It makes sense to take a break from stressing the body, because if you just keep doing what you’re doing, you’re going to be reinforcing old movement patterns instead of discovering new (and pain free) movement patterns through the program exercises. I have gone to CrossFit a few times, and I do plan to participate in the CrossFit Open in March, but those brief bouts of exercise have actually helped me pinpoint places where my body has started to change.
I had a Facebook memory pop up yesterday. It was a video of me doing 7 pull-ups, 7 years ago, a record for me at the time. I’d had a goal of 5, but pushed past it. Watching that film, I could see how much my pull-up form has improved since those beginnings. Now that I have a pull-up bar at home, I do want to start building the strength and endurance to do a ridiculous amount of pull-ups. Maybe a set of 20? I did end up doing a set of 10 last May, but I also lost pull-ups for a while there in the period between 2017 and 2022. I don’t want to lose that strength again.
I’m currently working through the Knee/Foot/Ankle program in Move U, but I’m looking forward to the next one up, which is Shoulders & Arms. A number of people in the community at Move U work through multiple programs simultaneously, but I decided that wasn’t going to be for me. I want to give full focus to each body area in turn so that I can learn that area well. Move U not only has the exercises, but also videos explaining the musculature of each area, which has been fascinating for me. I like to know the names for things, and be able to articulate what I’m feeling accurately.
I want to be able to look back on this year and call it an inflection point. When I finally stopped trying to just force myself to do the athletic things that I want to do, and started to learn how to move.