Be Playful

Like the Joker says in The Dark Knight "Why so serious?" Not trying to be dark or anything but seriously though when did we stop being a playful human being and become so cautious of every little thing. In fitness some people take their workouts way too literal and try this ride or die mentality and just feel like it's Hardcore, Hardcore and more Hardcore. I'm all for pushing yourself and doing things to amplify your potential (minus the roids) but come on people, lighten up a little. There are too many things in this world that have a negative entity so how about we be a little more playful shall we.

I love the ability to move and play with different things like Animal Flow, MovNat, Hand Balancing and a few swings with the Mace & Sledgehammer. Although it's been seen a lot more lately yet not enough people realize the beauty in Movement. Using your body like the men and women of ancient times that crawled, jumped, climbed, swam and had to balance themselves in order to survive; we don't have to go into survival mode but developing these skills and making an adventure out of it brings more of your potential to a level you didn't think was possible. Yeah yeah we have these "gyms" that help you move but in reality, these are more isolated and could actually kill you more than help you live longer and healthier. When you're so limited in movement it takes away the love and nature of your body's abilities to do what it was born to do. You didn't come out of a womb to do ab crunches on a machine or use a stepper to work your legs; you had to learn to crawl first, roll over, rock yourself to get up, squat, stand up and walk, you even had to teach yourself to climb up on the couch. That's where the true learning and beauty comes from, a young toddler who doesn't over think things and thinks to him/herself "gee is my back straight to squat like this or are my legs up too high to lift" they do what they do and if they fail, they get up and keep trying.

It's important to understand technique and how to work your body according to the way your built but that's beside the point; overthinking leads to less involvement in your quest to move and do so with an open mind and doing something unique and beautiful as opposed to locking yourself up mentally and act like a stiff plus asking this and that in a very annoying way. Be instinctive, value what you can learn to create whether it's a series of exercises in a circuit, a combination of different moves, a routine that perks you up and makes you feel alive inside. It's not always what you do on the outside, its about opening yourself up from within.

A kid that plays has a wild imagination, he sees things no one else sees and moves that body to his creativity. They see scenarios in their heads we can't even fathom or remotely begin to understand (and how can we, we grew up so imagination doesn't exist with us like that anymore). You don't have act childish when you train but do your best to be more child-like; create your own world and live it as if you really could, soar through the air like a jet making sounds, crawl like your favorite animal, swim as if you were Tarzan saving Jane from a croc, duck and roll like Indiana Jones whatever your mind can come up with. Master your own way to move, be inspired by those who dare to think outside the box, have dreams that you want to see come true. Release your inner child. Magical things can happen.