It’s funny how the world works. When you notice or start thinking about something new, that thing tends to show up in your life. This week for me it was the concept of being more “functional” and the aftereffects of a new activity on the body.

It started with my mom who has been diligently going through a resistance training program for the past six weeks or so. At dinner last week, she mentioned an article she had read that talked about functional training and how using machines is not optimal because it limits the need to control your body during the movements (I do not fully agree with this statement and think the nuance needs to be discussed… I will revisit another time). After a short discussion, we agreed that it could be a good idea to incorporate some body weight movements into her training and that she should try a group fitness type class that she likes on YouTube and see how it goes. Long story short, this is the text I received, “Hi. Question… I did this 30-minute workout with 8lb dumbbells on Tuesday. I am beyond sore… especially quads. Hard to get up and sit down. I don’t understand why I feel so sore after a couple of months in the gym doing the machines.”

Next, I had a conversation with a client who had just spent a great deal of time gardening. I know next to nothing about gardening, but I do understand that there is a lot of getting up and down, bending over to pick up things, twisting and turning, etc. This requires joint range of motion you can control, strength, and awareness of where your body is in space. This client has all of these things and ended up doing great. She did, however, end up with some soreness in spots that she has not felt in a while.

The next conversation I had was with a client who expressed her desire to be more functional and control her body more through larger ranges of motion. Mostly that means that she wants to work more on her mobility and strength. She referenced some situations in her life where she wants to feel more in control and feel confident that she will not hurt herself being in certain positions. A good example of an activity we discussed was getting on and off the floor. She may find herself in this position more and more as the years go by chasing her little grandchildren around.

All of these conversations take my mind to a similar place. There are many variables to consider but I mostly think about graded exposure to new activities. Graded exposure is the key to making sure you can handle a certain activity. If you want to improve a skill and the way you feel during or after an activity, introduce that activity slowly and progressively and then, once you get where you want to be, you can work to maintain those qualities over time. With any new activity, your skill level will be on the low end of the spectrum until you perform that activity many times. Do not get frustrated if it does not go as planned the first time. Up to a certain point, the amount of time spent performing an activity will generally lead to you becoming better at that activity. Be smart and learn from the message that your body sends you. If you were beat up after a new workout, do a little less next time. If you felt nothing, do a little more and see how it goes.

I will try to leave you with some low hanging fruit and an actionable takeaway.

Spend more time sitting on the floor. Start with 5 minutes a night and work your way up. It will be uncomfortable at first, but you will get used to it. Sitting on the floor forces you to put your joints in positions that they are not used to but should be able to tolerate. Listen to your body as you do this and, when it gets uncomfortable, change positions. This seems to fit in well at night when you are getting ready to settle down. Before getting on the couch or bed, hop on the floor because if you get on that nice soft couch or bed I doubt you get off. Expose yourself to this slowly and see what happens. If you stick with it long enough, I bet you find that you gain some range of motion if you were limited to begin with. If the three people mentioned in this blog implemented an activity like this into their life a few months ago, I bet there would have been less soreness as a result and less uncertainty about being in certain positions. Give it a shot and see how it goes. Being comfortable getting on and off the floor is an underrated skill. When you fall you want to be able to get back up!