This is the story of Ryan – The Movement Athlete
Ryan is an independent analyst. He spends his time traveling to and working in remote places all around the world. After a nasty injury he needed to find a different way to workout…
Staying in shape as a traveler is always a big challenge, and one Ryan struggled with.
He’s always been an athlete, playing American football and rugby at university. At the time, he focused mainly on weight training and cardio. A work injury involving abdominal tears made him unable to do usual workouts, and in search of an alternative that would keep him moving without making the problem any worse.
“I was immobile for a few weeks and not much more mobile for a good quarter of the year. It pretty much ended my regular regimen, and put off serious weight training for a solid six months, so I needed to find some kind of workout I could scale to my limitations.”
His father had been training for a while, and is the one who introduced Ryan to new approaches to training.
“My dad had recently recovered really well from back surgery and he recommended Pilates and calisthenics – so I listened to the old man.“
“Years of weight training was making my body fall apart and I was worried about my pain – like it’s going to create bigger problems down the road. “
Post Injury – not training
After training with The Movement Athlete
“I realised that my whole training philosophy needs to change.
Years of weight training was making my body fall apart and I was worried about my pain – like it’s going to create bigger problems down the road.
I knew bodyweight training is the way to go.
I wanted to do workouts that are
💪adapted specifically to me,
💪progressive (so get slowly and incrementally harder) and
💪include a lot of mobility
so that I can avoid injury and stay safe.
But all the apps that I tested were giving me random workouts or 8-week programs. I wanted my fitness to a be life-long journey.
He tried calisthenics out for himself, and struggled with the lack of progress he first experienced.
“When I first got started with calisthenics, it was difficult to measure progress and I wasn’t seeing the familiar gains I expected.
I needed a program that will guide me and that’s how I found The Movement Athlete.
The Movement Athlete Academy was everything I was searching for. They provide an incredible platform that it’s not only personalised but it’s progressive and it will guide you through your training for years.
It gives me a sense of reward, of satisfaction, of achievement as I unlock moves and level up. I feel so much more motivated seeing my progress in the app and knowing that I will not end up crippled with aches and pains or another injury.
I am feeling healthiest and strongest I have ever been
More than that, though, calisthenics challenged his views of what exercise was meant to look like.
“The hardest part of calisthenics has been the patience it requires me to have with myself. With weights or cardio I could just power through plateaus or problem areas: add more weight, run faster.”
“At the end of the day I’d just be more sore or nauseous, but with calisthenics I’m identifying really functional performance errors in myself, that can’t be overcome by more weight or gutting it out – corrections take patience and acceptance.”
A changed mindset which introduced a new way to deal with injury
“because of the scalability and regularity of the workouts. I was also able to identify new areas to improve.”
More than just recovering, calisthenics seems to have taught him to cope with injury differently. The steps he took to recover involved both taking action and understanding his own mind better than he had before.
“I’ve learned to deal with injury by doing something – anything – that lets me see even the smallest growth. My most recent injury required me to have a substantial amount of metal removed from my leg, so at 32 that meant I was off my feet for weeks.”
“So I looked up any small moves I could do with my legs propped up or on one leg (as I got healthier) and just went from there. The work spent planning out sessions and even the smallest bit of gain were enough to keep from falling into a mental grave of sorts.”
Freedom in movement
Since starting calisthenics, Ryan has experienced an openness and a flexibility in his training routine that never really had before.
“Life used to be governed by hard and fast gym times, but now I’m free to build my days around workouts but all the while listening to how I feel that day and responding appropriately in my regimen.”
The Movement Athlete has offered him a safe structure in which he has the freedom to explore and play. “Fitness has definitely become less of a thing I do, and more of a way I live…I always built my days around workouts but now I build workouts into my days.”
His progress has taken him so far from where he started, which is a huge motivator for him: calisthenics is about progress and evolution.
“I started out looking to recover and maintain but I’ve become a bit more obsessed with movement and functional performance so my workouts are much more form/performance focused now than they were when I started.”
Learn to listen to your body
“Be patient and observant. If you’re like me and are used to seeing the types of gains that come from weight/sport training, you need to let yourself learn the language of calisthenics. Gains come but they’re different, your body’s language is different. So don’t give up, invest and listen, because it really is like learning a new language.”
He can play ANYWHERE
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