Fit But Unhealthy

What does it mean to be fit? Healthy? Well? Can you be one without the other?

The fitness industry and our culture teach us that fitness is having six-pack-abs, defined triceps, and a good tan. 

Fitness by this definition in no way means that being "fit" also means you are healthy. A person can be a very fit marathon runner (Jim Fixx, Alberto Salazar, Micah True), cyclist (Scott Ellis, Leonard Zinn), or fitness pro (Bob Harper) and still be unhealthy and suffer a heart attack. ​

Alberto Salazar NYC Marathon 1981 #albertosalazar #oregonproject #nike #nikerunning #nyc #nycmarathon #nike #run #runner #running #marathon #runners

A post shared by aglet (@aglet.es) on Nov 2, 2015 at 2:04pm PST

On the road to recovery. I'm required to wear these monitors to see what my heart is doing throughout the day. I feel like a robot from WESTWORLD thank you all for your kindness. You have no idea how much it helps. ❤❤

A post shared by Bob Harper (@bobharper) on Feb 28, 2017 at 6:51am PST

Health is defined as the absence of disease or being free of injury and illness. Being healthy again doesn't mean one is "well". Plenty of healthy people are not well. 

​Wellness is:

• "...a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." - The World Health Organization
• "a conscious, self-directed and evolving process of achieving full potential." - The National Wellness Institute

I would further define wellness as being free from limitations, thriving, and enjoying peace of mind. 

One component of wellness is postural balance, which is vitally important for living an active pain free life. Postural imbalances are the underlying cause of most injuries and pain (herniated discs, sciatica, meniscus tears, rotator cuff tears, osteoarthritis, tendonitis, etc.). 

The great thing about posture is that it is as easy to identify as six pack abs. Take a 5 second look at someone and you can see whether they are posturally balanced or not. Below is a famous fitness star who looks very "fit" but look at her posture:

• standing unevenly
• left foot is turned out
• right hip is higher
• right shoulder is lower

You may ask: but didn't you just catch her in an awkward stance? Yes, but if you watch the video she's always defaulting to these same imbalances. That tells us it's really her posture imbalances coming through.

But she's fit - strong, flexible, lean - these little posture imbalances don't really matter, right?

Wrong. They matter a lot. Or they should. These posture imbalances mean that in every exercise she does  - from bench press, to squats, to swim, to run - she will not do evenly and symmetrically which means injury and pain is soon to come. Watch her squat below:

Before she starts squatting, she states: "The trick is, you have to perfect form." This we already know will be impossible because of her posture imbalances. As I've blogged about before: Form follows function. Bad posture equals bad form. How you stand is how you move. Straighten before you strengthen. 

The only way to have perfect form is to start from having balanced posture. Posture is the foundation of good form, healthy movement, pain free activity, and injury free performance. 

Maintaining postural health should be as important as any other aspect of our health, but it obviously isn't because more money is spent on chronic pain treatment than cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. If we maintained our postural health with some simple daily exercises we could save billions of dollars a year treating the symptoms of poor posture. 

If you are in chronic pain, contact me today for a free posture evaluation and consultation where we can figure out what you need to do to become pain free. If you are pain free, here are some great videos that can help you stay pain free.

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Related articles/videos:
10 things that cause posture imbalances
How you stand is how you move
Why exercise is not enough
Form follows function in the human body and movement