Relieve Low Back Pain | Reduce Low Back Pain | Canada's Leading Authority in Human Movement | Dev Chengkalath

In my last post I listed 7 reasons why I believe New Year’s Resolutions fail.

Over the next little while I’m going to explore each of those reasons and relate it back to movement, injury rehab, fitness and health.

First on the docket is accountability.

What does accountability really mean and why does it even matter?

The definition above is taken from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary and I think it encompasses the main idea quite well.

Are we really willing to accept responsibility for our actions or lack thereof? Are we ready to admit that our results are based on what we have done or not done? That these results are based on what we’ve chosen to do or chosen not to do?

Are we willing to put the blame from lack of results squarely on our own shoulders? Are we willing to accept that our achievements were our very own?

Basically, as stated by Merriam-Webster, are we in a position to accept absolute responsibility?

At this point you’re probably scratching your head and wondering how this ties in with movement, injury rehab, fitness or health?

If you want to lose weight, it’s simple. If you want to gain muscle, it’s simple. If you want to rehab your injury, it’s usually quite simple. If you want to improve your health, avoid diabetes, obesity, heart disease or any other life-altering ailment, it’s definitely simple.

(For the record, simple DOES NOT mean easy).

But are we willing to say no to the extra serving of pasta and increase our activity levels regularly? Are we willing to slam down those extra 2000 calories a day and hit the gym when we just want to crawl into bed and sleep? Are we willing to take the appropriate recovery breaks or practice the same “boring” rehab exercises over and over again to retrain our faulty movement patterns or fix our mobility issues when we know there is something more “interesting” on the TV? Are we willing to take charge of what we put into our bodies, eschewing the toxins, the chemicals, the processed crap we call food? Are we ready to take responsibility for what we subject our bodies to, or how we treat them every day?

Then we have to ask ourselves, who are we responsible to?

Who would we be letting down if we fail?

Is it ourselves? Our friends and families? Our parents? Our children? Our neighbours? Society? The healthcare system?

Is is to all of them? Some of them? None of them?

In the end, I guess I’ve asked more questions than I’ve answered and they’re questions that only you can answer.

Just realize that if there is no built in accountability to your health and fitness goals or resolutions, the odds that you’ll follow through on them diminish dramatically and all you’ll end up with is a written wish list which will leave you in the same place you were in yesterday.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

Since it’s that time of year again, the one that shows up about every 365 days, I thought it would be fitting to dig a little deeper into some of the reasons why I think most New Year’s Resolutions almost always fail. While New Year’s Resolutions may not be directly linked to human movement, the reasons they fail are the same reasons that injury rehab programs fail, that weight loss programs fail, and why health & fitness goals are so hard to achieve.

Here’s my list in no particular order…

1. No accountability: For most people, there is no accountability built into their resolutions. Think about it. When’s the last time you were accountable for any of the New Year’s resolutions you’ve made? Who were you accountable to? Yourself? Your family? Your friends? What was/were the repercussion(s) of not following through?

2. No plan or system to follow: In most cases, resolutions are made without any thought of how they will be executed. No planning is put in place, there are no systems to follow, and no steps to take. Without these, it’s easy to fall off the resolution path and back into the familiar status quo.

3.  Just a list of words with no time- constrained behaviours attached: Often, New Year’s resolutions are a vague, open ended wish list, and not a goal oriented target. Most resolutions made have no structured timeline (if any at all!), and they most often don’t have any corresponding behaviours attached. Essentially, they are just a list of words.

4. No value placed on goal: Basically, what does the goal mean to you? Why do you want to achieve it? What’s your pain if you don’t achieve it? What’s your reward when you do achieve it? How will your results change your life?

5. No “reminders” of resolution: Once a goal is made, it’s often tucked away in the back of the mind. This allows the business of life to come to the forefront and take over the all important mind-space. How often do you think of your resolutions outside of the few days around Jan 1st? How often do you remind yourself of what you wanted to achieve?

6. Easy to lie to and sabotage ourselves: We as humans are REALLY good at lying to ourselves. Think about it. How many times will you tell yourself you’ll do something, but then put it off until the tomorrow that never comes? How many times will you tell yourself that you’re going to get up early, set your alarm clock and when it goes off in the morning, your first response is to press snooze? Maybe even press it a few times. Or how about when you fall off your nutrition plan by sneaking a dessert (or two) and then justify quitting it completely because of that one blip? Sometimes we lie and sabotage ourselves because we’re afraid of succeeding.

7. Not taking action: The main reason that most resolutions fail is because no action is actually taken. Without any action, resolutions remain as words without meaning. These actions don’t need to be huge, life altering changes. They just need to be consistent. Ask yourself the following simple question, does this take me closer or farther away from my goal?

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

Well, it’s been over a month since I’ve last posted on this blog.

And if it weren’t for my friend Rumu in Calgary, it would have probably been even longer. Thanks for the kick in the pants.

I realize I was getting  fairly sporadic with my posting.

I had all the excuses.

And I could come up with a million more excuses.

All of them would be fairly valid.

I’ve been working 12 hour days at the clinic doing physical therapy, I’ve been out of town for continuing education courses and seminars, and I’ve been putting out a slew of professional fires. But in reality, if I actually look at the reasons for my absence they’re pretty weak…

Now, you’re probably wondering what the hell this has to do with motivation to move.

So here it is: how often have you created, crafted and customized an excuse not to move?

We’re all guilty of it.

Too tired. Too busy. Too (fill in the blank here).

In our mind it’s pretty easy to create justification for not only our actions, but our inactions as well.

I told myself that I was too tired, that I’d worked long hours, that I’d write tomorrow, or the day after. Somehow, I still found time in the past month to watch a few movies (I don’t watch TV, but I do have a DVD player) or just veg out. In that time, I could have pumped out a few blog posts or written a few articles.

In reality, it comes down to my poor planning and preparation. I knew my hours at work would be increasing. I knew I would have those courses and seminars. I didn’t plan ahead and for that I am at least a month behind on my blogging.

There was, however, one area where I did take a few steps in preparation.

My training.

I knew that with my increased work and education load that it would be easy to push this fairly important aspect of my life to the back-burner (or even off the radar!).

Then serendipity struck.

At the same time that these changes were taking place, about 9 weeks ago, I came across a forum post on Precision Nutrition.

In this post, a gauntlet had been dropped, a challenge had been set forth. It was a 16 week body transformation challenge where the only prize on the line was EGO. No cash. No prizes. Nothing more than self-actualization.

Putting my name down and being accountable, even to an essentially faceless group of people on an internet community, has kept me on task at the gym. That an those half-naked pics.

My goals were lofty but not body composition related.

I figured if I chose performance targets my body would change during that journey.

In the 16 weeks I am to complete a triple body weight squat, a triple body weight dead lift, a double body weight chin up and a double body weight bench press.

I hit one of the four already. Because I had to.

I am getting close on the second. But that still leaves two more that need work in the next 7 weeks.

So here’s my challenge to you.

Find your motivation to move.

And let everyone know about it.

That social accountability will go a long way in keeping your on track towards your movement goals.

I know it worked for me.

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

Henry David Thoreau

This was a quote from the keynote address given by Brian Grasso, founder and CEO of the International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA), at a fitness conference I attended a few months back.

What a powerful statement. And what a powerful keynote speech.

Although the quote and the speech were not directly related to health, fitness, physical therapy, or human movement, they did stir something deep inside of me.

An awakening.

I had to really figure out what I’m doing and what I’d like to accomplish in this field.

I had to stop and think about what gets me up in the morning and excited to start my day and what keeps me going and wanting to learn more, do more and be more.

I spent much of the conference doing what I should have done years ago.

I had to find myself.

Have you ever stopped, paused and taken stock of your life?

It’s not easy at all.

There are definitely ghosts to confront and skeletons to battle. You become vulnerable to those around you. And even more vulnerable to yourself.

That’s a scary position to be in.

In any industry. In any situation. Let alone in the “macho” and “testosterone-fueled” field of fitness and high performance where confidence and bravado reign supreme.

I had to take a deep, hard look at who I was, and what I wanted to achieve. I had to find my inner motivation. I had to find what drives me.

I had to find my passion.

I remember going to bed that night after having mulled my “quiet desperation” all day.

I remember waking up the next morning with a new clarity, a new sense of awareness, a sharper sense of self.

I had teased out the source of the passion in all that I do for my clients; for those looking for body transformations or looking to lose weight; for those looking to gain muscle mass; for those looking to become stronger; for those looking to improve performance and even for those looking to live their lives pain free.

There was one underlying and unifying motivation that has compelled me to serve my clients better.

That compels me to serve my clients better.

Empowerment.

Dev Chengkalath