Wrapping up and moving forward

Why do we need to care about our metabolic health? Continued from The MM Part 9.

It's a question that affects every aspect of our daily lives, from how we feel when we wake up in the morning to our long-term health outcomes. As movement educators, we simply cannot go on ignoring the impact of movement patterns on our metabolic health. How we curate our physical activity directly influences the sum experience of our energy levels, weight management, immune system function, mental clarity, relationships, wellbeing and longevity.

When metabolism isn't working optimally, we experience fatigue, mood swings, difficulty losing weight, and increased risk for chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Understanding and maintaining good metabolic health isn't about following the latest diet trend - it is about taking responsibility for your internal balance sheet.

As movers and movement educators, we know we need to move well and move often. We must also come around to the crucial distinction of a movement diet including not only variable intensity but consistent integrity, meaning we must move in congruence with gliding joint rotation.

If we accept that all movement comes with wear and tear in the joint workspaces, then we absolutely must adapt our teachings to prioritize movement that can offer adequate challenge while also conferring maximum protection from inflammation. Minimizing friction in the joints appears to be our best chance of keeping them healthier for longer.

Here are my minimum daily requirements:

• 30 minutes of moderate-intensity outdoor locomotion (brisk walking, running, cycling)

• 30 minutes of whole-body, weight-bearing, complex rotational motion (Spiral Vinyasa)

• 15 minutes abdominopelvic focus (especially for women regardless of parity)

• 10 minutes Pranayama/bandha

The Bottom Line

Scientific evidence strongly supports the connection between physical activity and improved metabolic health. Not all physical activity is going to be metabolically healthy, as the evidence demonstrates that frictional movement damages joint tissues and ultimately compromises the tissues.

The relationship between specific movement patterns and metabolic health is more sophisticated than previously understood, but the call to action is clear. As educators, we have a duty of care to curate a movement curriculum that falls into the rotational rhythm of the joints and the metabolic health markers that naturally follow suit.

“All that you touch
You Change.

All that you Change
Changes you.

The only lasting truth
is Change.

God
is Change.”

― Octavia E. Butler

See all the posts in this series and more on The Metabolic Mover. 

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine