Freedom Through Movement

Personal Training, Athletic Training, Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching in Shelby Township

As human beings, we have evolved to be fundamentally free. However, we live in a society in which we have been systematically untrained, so that by the time we are adults, we are totally restricted in our movement. From being sedentary to sitting in chairs all day since childhood, we can no longer perform the basic motions that our ancestors did from the time they were born, well into old age.

And not just that, but most of us also develop aches and pains in our joints, so that the basic act of living and going through our daily lives can be a painful and restricted experience.

We have been cut off from the fact that we can relearn these things, that we can train to rediscover our natural freedom.

Whether you are 9 or 91, it is innate within you to squat, bend, crawl, run, jump, dance – to be unbounded and free.

Do you remember what it felt like to be a kid? To run, jump, skip, and play, where the only constraint was your own imagination?

Where IMS Comes In

We humans have the ability to perform biomechanical movements that come natural to us. That means we can move certain ways that don’t require hard thinking to do them, e.g. squatting, lifting, pressing, turning etc. If we take those movements, and put them in a structured mechanical sequence, we would be able to create an exercise program that would be virtually free of injuries. Incorporating to those movements our own bodyweight, would present the exercising individual with a training concept, of limitless opportunities. The certainty of the body’s desire to protect itself, should be taken by every trainer or trainee as a great advantage. I have developed, upon those factuality’s, a training/exercise concept, “Intrinsic Motion System.

What is “Intrinsic Motion System (IMS)” and how does it work?

In my 29 years of training and coaching people, I have seen a lot of individuals getting injured because of various reasons. But the primary cause for getting hurt is when the trainee is instructed to move against its natural biomechanical motions. Add on to that, using extra weight, e.g. machines, barbells and dumbbells, and we have the perfect formula for getting injured. I am not saying that a trainer/coach should not utilize those ‘tools’ to train his or her trainee. What I am suggesting is, that a person who has just started to be physically active can use his/her own bodyweight as working against resistance and gravity. I would even imply that not merely a ‘newbie,’ but also a well-trained person, would gain excellent strength, power and agility in all aspects of fitness when training with IMS.

Much more than “calisthenics”.

One could say, well that sounds like Calisthenics, which is a type of bodyweight training. But IMS is much more than that. The methodology and doctrine of IMS assures that every individual regardless of condition and shape can perform the natural movements necessary, to start feeling better about him/herself. Considering that our bodies are truly perfectly designed to accomplish all kinds of physical tasks and challenges via muscle engagement, it is almost a travesty not to use such a perfect “machine” to our advantage. To develop a healthy, strong resilient body, that is naturally powerful, one doesn’t need fancy, high tech exercise equipment. If you go back and check how the old “strong men” used to train, it is fascinating, with so little they accomplished so much.

Take as an example Woody Strode, a former football star for the LA Rams (1946).

His workout routine consisted of doing 1000 body squats and 1000 pushups every day next to his football practice, which was mainly using your own body. The man had a phenomenal physic.

If we humans, would just start moving our bodies the way that our distant ancestors did, the majority of us wouldn’t have to deal with all the health issues we are confronted nowadays.

Inspiration, motivation and spirituality.

But so far I’ve just talked about the physical part of IMS. There is also a psychological and a nutritional part of it that I find as important as the physical, or even more. IMS stands furthermore for “inspiration, motivation and spirituality.” And those are the components that not a lot of fitness professionals spend time and/or effort on. Without those three factors, I believe, that no person no matter what their goal might be, will and can succeed. I’ve seen it over and over again. The trainer can have a vast amount of training concepts and methods, but if he or she can not inspire, motivate and implement a particular spiritual aspect for the client to change his/her lifestyle, the trainee will either quit before the mutual goal is achieved, or after the trainee is eventually on its own, will quit pursuing the desired path, whichever it might be.

In my early years as a personal trainer/coach, I could care less about inspiration, motivation and spirituality. As long as my clients did whatever I told them to do, everything was fine. They were succeeding, that was all it mattered. But when the time came for them to go on their own, and not be able to rely on me as their accountability they would fall back into their old life style. Clients that had lost 50, 100 or more pounds did gain all back and more. Athletes that I trained for a race or other competitive sports would start smoking and drinking again. I never understood that. Until I analyzed myself and my training philosophy. And that is when I realized, that I missed to inspire, to motivate and to encourage my clients to let their own spirituality give them the willpower to strengthen their “new” lifestyle. I don’t mean by that to be a religious person that is one’s own decision; I have nothing to say about that. No, I am talking about helping and guiding the person (note, I am saying person and not client), to develop a bigger self-esteem, confidence and most important self-value. To be able to help a person to achieve those virtues one must have empathy and experience. It is imperative as I like to say “to feel” your client. Without that ‘feel,’ a trainer /coach will never connect with his/her trainee, which in return means that that individual will never reach his/her potential.

What does it all mean?

What does this all mean? It means, that IMS is not merely a training concept, but also a philosophy that will help the individual to transform not only the body, but more importantly the mind.

As a wise man once said, “Where the mind goes the body follows.”