Long term life changing RESULTS are not achieved with quick fixes, fads or hacks. They are forged through strong daily habits, consistency and hard work, FOREVER.
Every single day is an opportunity to move the needle on your own HEALTH. Seeminly small simple actions taken today (and every day there after) will pave the path to altering and upgrading your life through the power of compounding interest.
But that’s the OPPOSITE of what we’ve been told we must do to ultimately achieve the desired results we are after.
In a mainstream media and society transfixed on QUICK FIXES, it’s becoming harder and harder to create life changing results due to a lack of consistency, sustainability and overall automated health habit formation.
When it comes to your HEALTH, anything worth doing is worth doing every damn day. Including exercise, here’s why…
And over the last 20 years I’ve used the NEVER MISS A DAY mentality to structure my schedule and stay consistent with training and exercise.
As I’m a huge believer that if you have true aspirations to be your HEALTHIEST, you should never have a day off from moving your body and training your mind.
Moving meaningfully every damn day is a non-negotiable for me. And it’s become a cornerstone practice for many of my clients with goals of looking, feeling and functioning their best. Both physically AND mentally.
Whether it’s a structured training day or unstructured physical activity or exercise, movement moves my mind, body and soul and is the impetus for my role as a father, family man, friend, colleague and coach.
Exercise provides the central cornerstone of my lifestyle. And honestly, it’s one of the driving forces that has allowed me to chase my passions and purpose in all aspects of my life.
Without my daily dose of movement, I am not at my best for myself or anyone else around me.
It’s the foundation of my lifestyle, and each day it provides me with a massive positive ROI that is unrivaled and unmatched. Nothing I’ve found (with the exception of sleep) is as effective as ingraining movement into my life.
With that said, here’s my recommendation for structuring a weekly schedule around the NEVER MISS A DAY Mentality to amplify your efforts across the board:
These are simple scheduled health habits that create the blueprint for HEALTH success.
And while these additions to your exercise week do NOT need to become overly complicated (as that will deter away from consistency), they do need to be practiced mindfully and meaningfully.
As no one every achieved world-class results AND sustained them just going through the motions…
Strength is the cornerstone of physical performance. It’s the central physical characteristic that can directly influence and improve ALL other ancillary physical characteristics. No matter your focus or goal, STRENGTH must be a priority.
Utilizing 3-4 days per week of primary strength training ensuring you’re training all 6 foundational movement patterns is a requirement. Keying in on ONE big lift per day and getting STRONGER will keep you focused and gaining.
Your heart is the most vital organ in the human body.
Without it’s health and function, you will cease to exist. So training the heart and adjacent cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory systems is one of the most important focuses for health, longevity and performance alike.
Mixing in a few days of longer steady state cardiovascular training (preferred 30+ minutes of Zone 2 training) with higher intensity interval training for heart rate variability and conditioning is the perfect recipe for HEALTH.
The best exercise with the MOST benefits (when done consistently).
It’s easy, effective and FREE. And that’s why walking is a mandatory physical practice for EVERYONE.
In order to benefit fully from the cardiovascular, regenerative AND mental benefits of reciprocal based bipedal locomotion AKA walking, you should walk 10+ minutes without breaks, stopping or change of pace (jogging or running).
Walk at a brisk pace that elevates your heart rate enough to know you’re doing SOMETHING, but also does not impede the natural gait cycle and synergistic muscular recruitment that makes walking a joint-friendly option.
This physical practice should take place EVERY single day, if not multiple times a day.
Do something to make your body feel and function it’s best every single day.
Whether it’s going through some simple soft tissue work or stretching, OR spending 10-minutes completing a full 6-Phase Dynamic Warm Up with a more well rounded approach to maintenance, it’s the key to consistently feeling great.
I classify “body maintenance” as anything that makes your body better off. This could also be considered regeneration and recovery modalities along with movement from the categories covered above.
Breathing is a mandatory vital signature of human beings. You cannot live without breathing. But you cannot live WELL without breathing appropriately for your specific needs at any given point in time.
Breathing is a movement skill just like a squat or a deadlift. And it should be practiced and improved over time to have more control over its functional transference to the central nervous system’s response to stress and stimulus.
No matter your activity or goal, breathing will help you perform (or recover) your best.
And with full transparency, there are dark days where doing ANYTHING seems like an impossible feat. These are the days where getting in and getting the work done are MOST important.
On these challenging days I recommend warming up, prioritizing cardio and walking and forcing your body to move. And almost every time, you’ll end feeling FAR better than when you started.
But isn’t that the point?
The power of your body’s physiological response to movement is massive. It effects ALL aspects of life, physical, mental, emotional and psychological.
It’s the most effective MEDICINE on the market today. And it’s FREE.
It all starts with ONE day. And then the next.
Building habits, creating consistency and showing your body and mind that it DEPENDS on movement to be it’s best. That’s my goal for every single client and coach I work with.
Movement is medicine, and exercise is our daily dose of proactive, preventative HEALTH care.
Dr. John Rusin is a sports performance specialist and injury prevention expert that has coached some of the world’s most elite athletes, barbell sport competitors, and over 10,000 clients from all walks of life with his innovative pain-free performance programs and systems, which has gained him the reputation as the go-to industry expert for rebuilding after pain, injuries or plateaus. Dr. Rusin is also the founder of the Pain-Free Performance Specialist Certification (PPSC) that has certified over 10,000 personal trainers, strength coaches and rehab pros from across the globe in the pain-free performance training system since 2019.
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