Hi!

In an effort to help you find joyful movement anywhere, I wanted to share this post I wrote for Revelation Wellness to give you a framework to build your own routine. I hope this helps you feel like you’re not alone in struggling to make up your own fitness routines, but to follow the joy of the Lord and the design of your body!

"Carry me!" she entreated, with a voice so sweet and face so angelic it was hard to refuse.

Even though my legs felt like lead and my strength completely sapped from a day of fitness teaching and toddler wrangling, I groaned, bent down low and cried out with a loud voice, "All aboard!"

Surprised, she gleefully galloped over, gave me her imaginary ticket to punch, strapped her seatbelt arms around my neck, and I pushed the old train of my body off the floor and up the stairs.

It was a wild ride. There were alligators in the hallway river I had to jump over, doorway tunnels I had to duck through, and robbers we had to beat in a tooth-brushing race!

We made it just in the nick of time, and I threw her off my back and onto her bed. I pulled the covers over her and kissed her goodnight.

Somehow, I had my own strength back.

"The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving." Psalm 28:7

Even when it feels like I am bone-tired, when I choose God’s joyful idea of play over rule-driven performance, joy always leads the way and fills me with unexplained energy.

Joy is the best source of energy.

Everyone needs to keep their muscles strong, whether that’s for a physically demanding job or simply to keep our posture straight against the forces of age, gravity, and forward-facing technology.

And as the well-roundedness of kids and their natural inclinations to play demonstrates, we don't necessarily need a gym to strength train. We can create our own strength routine anywhere! All it takes are these five major movement patterns, load, and repetition.

5 Movement Patterns for Strength

When we need a framework to strengthen our bodies, this is It. Here are the 5 major motor patterns that move our bodies (credit for these categories):

Hinge

"Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!" Psalm 116:2

Because God bends down to be near to us, we can hip hinge in humility and rise up in strength. Hinging at the hips strengthens our glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps, allowing us to pick up toys, clean up litter, and tend the ground.

Hinge movements include but are not limited to: deadlifts, kettlebell swings, and glute bridges.

Push

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." Philippians 3:12

We can, as Philippians says, practice pressing on and persevering by pushing forward or pressing up. Pushing with our arms strengthens our chest and tricep muscles, and it allows us to push heavy furniture into a new spot, press ourselves off the ground, or throw your kid in the pool when they shout, “higher!”.

Push movements include but are not limited to: push-ups, presses, and medicine ball chest passes.

Pull

She just looks like she’s having a good time.

"He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn't slip." Psalm 40:2 MSG

The pulling motion reminds us how God pulls us out of deep places, encourages us to pull heaven down, and draw love in. Strengthening our back and bicep muscles, pulling allows us to row in a boat, swim in the water, pull ropes and pulleys, draw someone in close to dance, fire up a lawn mower. A strong back also helps counteract a collapsed chest from tech-neck, keeping our body upright.

Pull movements include but are not limited to: seated rows, bent-over flys, climbing, and lat pull-downs.

Squat

“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Revelation 3:21

The squatting motion is an ancient motion of rest and relief. When we squat, we train rest, the ability to use your body as its own support. As we descend into a squat position, we activity participate with Jesus' position of resting at the right hand of God the Father. The squat allows us to do so many things: prepare for a jump shot, rest without a chair, even birth a child!

Squat movements include but are not limited to: goblet squats, box squats, Bulgarian squats, and functional lunges.

Pillar

You’ve got to use your core to carry this size dog!

“May our sons flourish in their youth like well-nurtured plants. May our daughters be like graceful pillars, carved to beautify a palace.” Psalm 144:12 NLT

What does a pillar do? It connects a strong foundation to a protective roof. It creates space in between for life. What does our core do? It keeps our top and bottom half together, while making space for our essential internal organs, allowing for movement of the whole body. Pillar exercises strengthen your core muscles and keep you centered for all of your body's movements.

Pillar movements include but are not limited to: Overhead carries, farmer carries, get-ups, planks, bear crawls, and lateral tosses.

FITT Principle

When we balance out our body with these four types of movements, we will have overall strength, be less prone to muscle imbalances, and have less weakness and tightness.

We need a framework for these movements to make a strength routine, so let's use the FITT principle: Frequency, Intensity, Type, and Time.

Frequency: For a well-balanced body, resistance training for the total body needs to happen at least twice a week (working the same muscle groups on nonconsecutive days).
Intensity: Challenge yourself. If you're just starting, do about 10-12 repetitions. If you can do 2 more repetitions, add some weight. If you want to build strength, lower the amount of repetitions to a range of around 4-6 and increase the weight. The more weight you use, the more you'll need to rest in between. Aim to do at least 3 sets or rounds in a session.
Time: As long as you need to perform safe, full-range movements with adequate rest.
Type: Incorporate the 5 movement patterns

Add a dimension of power into these movements, and you've got yourself a full strength and cardio routine, improving both the musculoskeletal system as well as the cardiovascular system. Adding power into what you already have would include jump squats, sprint carries, sled pushes, ball slams, anything that adds a layer of speed onto the strength exercises and gets your heart pumping faster.

How to Use the 5 Strength Movements In Daily Life:

Here are some sample scenarios of ways you can break out of a rigid fitness mindset and find freedom by building strength into your everyday life.

Gym

Hinge: 12 weighted deadlifts

Push: 12 weighted bench presses

Pull: 12 lat pull-downs

Squat: 12 weighted squats

Pillar: Plank hold 1 minute

x3

Gardening

Hinge: Bend over to tend plants for 5 minutes

Push: Pushing a wheelbarrow back and forth 10 times

Pull: Pull 10 strong weeds

Squat: Lift large bag of soil 10 times

Pillar: Carry large bag of soil 30 seconds

x3

Playing with Kids

Hinge: Have a toy clean-up competition and see how many toys you can each pick up in 5 minutes.

Push: Lay on your back, hold your child, and press them up and kiss their cheek as they come down. Repeat 10 times.

Pull: Give them a blanket ride by having them sit on a blanket and pull them across the wood floor for 5 laps around the house, pulling the blanket close to you in intervals so you get that scapular squeeze.

Squat: Hold them tight and squat until their feet touch the ground, then blastoff! Shoot them up into the air! Repeat 10 times.

Pillar: With a child doing a secure piggyback ride, bend at the waist in a circle and pretend you're in a tornado.

x3, or however long they want to play with you!

Let us enter the Kingdom on earth as a child and be stronger for it.

Discover God's creation by being more physically involved with your life and include all parts of your body.

See what He can do through you by adding a challenge with weight, speed, and variation.

And with the excitement of a child, you'll say, "again, again!" and never run out of joy and the strength that comes with getting to know the Lord better with each repetition.

How can you build a strength routine into your own day?

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