1) People are so much nicer!Typically the DC crowd is pretty close-lipped, but slap a green cast on you and you’ve got a door holding, conversation starting, discount delivering, community around to support you.

2) Most people wouldn’t be doing this.I pretty much hear this comment in words, looks or some other body language 3+ times per day. See thing #5 for why I think this is.

3) Northwest DC is pretty accessible.Scooting around for a few blocks really isn’t that bad. It’s slow. But you get used to it.

4) The bus is best. I can’t imagine taking anything else in this occasion. It’s down the road from the tiny house, and it drops me off a few blocks from where I need to be in DC. It’s practically a charter bus.

5) A clear purpose makes all the difference. I get to help make people healthier in drastic ways. The fact that pays the bills and allows me the freedom to be home with my wife and toddler more than most people is PLENTY purpose enough to figure things out and put on a happy face.

In summary...Injuries never happen at a good time. They require sooooo much energy to heal from and still accomplish normal every-day tasks. And let’s just say that it’s much harder to take advantage of opportunities if everything requires more energy.

At the end of the day though you really just have two choices. You can stew over opportunities lost, or leverage your current opportunities. One is an exercise in futility, the other is an exercise in strength. My advice remains the same:

The Idea...You know how sometimes you have these ideas that are hanging around on the outskirts of your mind and you can’t quite grasp what they are?

I’ve been feeling that way lately about what my opinion is of working out/exercising.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to work out. Especially in the right environment. I love lifting heavy weights, listening to Disturbed, and sweating it out. At least I did before I had a baby. I haven’t gotten back into that kind of lifting yet since becoming a mom.

We evolved to move

But what if part of the reason so many people struggle to get into a routine going to the gym and “working out” is because it is completely unnatural?

At VIVO Training Systems, we tend to gravitate towards the more evolutional when it comes to ideology. Except for the smart phone technology… I know, I know, so hypocritical. But you have to pick your battles.

The question is the answer

The question I have been asking myself is this: How can we help people move and become more healthy (or achieve their physical goals of weight loss or strength etc) in a way that is fun and sustainable?

I am even struggling with this myself. I have one scheduled workout a week and that is all that I have been doing as far as exercise goes. At least as far as structured exercise goes…

Is there another way?

Writing a workout program for a recent client has got me thinking about the possibility of other options.

Let’s think about this for a minute: what are the real goals behind most workout programs?

To lose weight

To gain mobility/flexiblity

To get stronger

To prevent injury

What if instead of just writing workout programs for people, we wrote lifestyle’s? In a way that they could achieve results without ever stepping in a gym?

A possible gold standard

The nutrition program that we are just starting to offer at VTS is all about the big picture. They don’t just give you a list of meals to eat, they help you with your eating habits, they help you with your environment, they help you with your support system, so much more than just a list of foods.

And yet we write workout programs for people that are really just a list of exercises. And don’t get me wrong, many people see awesome results with our programs. And there is nothing wrong with that.

But what if there was another way?

Thinking Outside the App

Sometimes I think we are a little too attached to our workout program App. It almost defines us as a company.

I’m thinking I need to start thinking outside the App so to speak.

Facebook is great but it is very limiting as well.

It’s all about the delivery...

How could I develop and deliver a lifestyle to people? Well the writing/development is the easy part, time consuming, but the logistics aren’t hard. ​The delivery of this lifestyle would be the hard part.​

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” -Frank A. Clark