When Play Becomes Your Training

 We get caught up in the rigors of life and figuring out how to stay in shape for whatever reason. It becomes a matter of what gives us the greatest benefit and what gives us solace when we are need of it. That's one of the things I love about training, it's not just doing a few exercises and trying to be better than yesterday, it is a way to go to a place where you feel the most at home and give a little comfort in knowing what you are doing becomes your sanctuary.

Almost every time, something always brings me back to doing animal movements. It just becomes intuitive to want to play and get away from the routines and the hardcore training stuff. Don't get me wrong, animal movements can be hardcore too if you know which ones to use but at the same time, they're like a little game you play and go back to that child-like state where you get to play out your imagination and do things you normally don't do. It's almost like meditation.

I do believe in taking your training seriously but it's also important to make things interesting and fun in the face of challenges and testing your body's abilities. With Animal Moves, you're constantly moving, shifting directions, keeping your balance and developing the mind/body connection through play. When you treat a workout, even if it's hard like a game, it changes how you perceive things and what brings the ideal way to workout.

You know all about the dice game I play after more than a decade of writing about it, it is the GOAT of exercise programs (in my opinion, to each their own) and it does more than just get you physically fit, it also takes you back to a time where the world was simple, fun and full of possibilities. You learn skills through the art of being playful, you find things about yourself you didn't get anywhere else and you learned how to apply natural movement for motor skill and function. 

After all that I've learned and all the programs I have done, nothing comes close to moving like an animal in my eyes, I get more out of them than any squat, push-up, pull-up, lifting weights or traditional cardio. It's very simple to learn but you get a lot out of it. It's getting back to a more natural state of mind and gives you an upgrade on your fitness.