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This is the story of Don – The Movement Athlete
Don works in the healthcare industry as an engineer. A father of three and grandfather of four, he’s always been an athlete.
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“I got real serious about lifting weights and increased in size until I was up to 240lbs and could throw some heavy weight.”
However, weight training became counter-productive for Don. Being a martial artist, he needed mobility more than he needed a body heavy with muscle.
“It slowed me down big time doing martial arts.”
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It fits with his martial arts training
When he weight trained, he actually lost some of his range-of-motion, which is so important to martial arts.
“I think functional strength is extremely important for life and complements many other athletic activities. I teach self-defense and the calisthenics is the stuff that keeps a man in shape and prepares him for whatever comes his way.”
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It’s always challenging
Despite being a lifelong athlete, calisthenics is a challenge to Don. The Movement Athlete program has actually forced him to start at the very beginning, despite being in very good shape. “Doing a plank for me for 10 seconds was easy but holding for 30 seconds is more difficult.”
“It was a slight blow to my ego to start at the very beginning but I really wanted to learn from the bottom up.”
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He’s learning new skills
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These injuries started piling up and dogging him. “After a couple of years of back injuries, I started looking for other forms of exercise.”
He tried a variety of training programs, but none were motivating or attention-grabbing in the long-term. They also felt didn’t complement his martial arts training, not really helping him progress.
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Don doing the side plank
Finding The Movement Athlete
Before Don started with The Movement Athlete, he tried another program. “I came across a course I could do at home that promised I could do one arm push ups, one arm pull ups, muscle ups, etc in 9 months.”
However, once he started the course, he kept getting injured. Taking a step back from the program, he realized that he was going through the program too quickly to learn proper form. “[I] realized [I] needed the help of experts in gymnastics and calisthenics.”
And so Don went to find a program that would support him in his needs.
“I stumbled across The Movement Athlete and started the program…It fits well with my martial arts training and is challenging.”
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Don Doing Dips
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