The ideas and principles that make A Way of Life Fitness programs successful are a common-sense approach applied to teachings from both eastern and western medical and philosophical disciplines.
The following basic principles set the foundation for all of our training programs. The beauty is in their simplicity. They address all of the basic reasons people quit a typical exercise program while laying the foundation necessary for creating positive lifestyle changes.
Principle #1: No Pain – EVER!
The main reason people quit an exercise program is pain. When we hurt during or after a workout we consciously and subconsciously associate exercise with pain. The ego or conscious association says that it’s good to hurt after a workout because ‘I felt like I accomplished something.’ The subconscious response is to create a negative psychological association to the exercise program due to the pain or soreness, which results in exercise avoidance. This avoidance happens both consciously and subconsciously
“I hate exercising”
“I don’t have time to go to the gym today”
“I don’t know why I quit going to the gym, maybe I’ll start again next week”
To ensure a positive experience our exercise programs are designed so that you never hurt. Not during exercise, not after exercise, and especially, not the next day. Because we avoid the pain response our programs maximize your results without tearing your body down. This allows for exercising more frequently while experiencing movement in a positive way.
Principle #2: The Feel Good Principle
The main reason people start an exercise program is to feel better. At A Way of Life we teach our clients how to use exercise to create energy–not how to burn calories. When we leave the gym feeling strong and energized we begin to create a positive psychological association with exercising. By associating exercise with feeling better, we positively re-enforce our healthy exercise habits. Because of this positive association, when we feel tired and depleted we are more likely to exercise to feel better. Understanding and implementing the Feel Good Principle is an important step in making fitness A Way of Life.
Principle #3: Quality of Ease
Whatever age that you might be, you have lived long enough to know that life can be a struggle. So when we exercise, why do we push and fight for that last repetition? Why do we work until our form breaks down and our breath becomes ragged? What are we training for? Are our workouts imitating life or is life imitating our workouts?
By struggling during our workouts we train to desensitize ourselves to the struggles of daily life. Wouldn’t it be better to train ourselves to be calm, confident and at ease in the face of adversity?
Part of the A Way of Life training program is to teach our clients how to create a Quality of Ease within their daily lives. We do this by using a combination of breath, body awareness, and conscious movement to create a heightened sense of well-being during exercise. This sense of well-being translates to better breathing patterns, greater oxygen flow, and decreased stress on a day to day basis.