Tech Times

We are living in an age of modernization especially when it comes to telecommunication and computer technologies. No sooner does one mobile or laptop come to the market claiming to be the quickest and smartest, and another is ready to launch with even better functionality, making the one just purchased almost obsolete. Consumers demand, and suppliers are quick to provide the latest machines, some faster, some have a better resolution, some more functions or better integration to other gadgets….. and the list goes on!

Our bodies are like machines too and we have evolved through time at a much slower pace and no further progressing for the past 28,000 years or so (according to the experts) to become who we are today from the primates we were. Our movement patterns have remained the same but nowadays with the help of new technologies we can quantify and measure virtually all aspects of our fitness and use the results to better understand our physiology, our performance especially in relation to competitive sports as well as to the rehabilitation fields.

We understand a lot more about our bodies and the way we, as primates, have developed a brain in order to move and to fine tune our motor skills for our species to survive. Just like computers, the hardware is like our body and the operating system and software are like our brain, our central nervous system defining task. We absorb information and store it and use it whenever it is needed. The brain is the central control panel that makes us move and learning a movement correctly is vital to the overall well-being of our body and mind. They reckon that it takes 300/500 times to learn a pattern of movement correctly and 3000/5000 to correct an incorrect movement pattern, which we can acquire through poor posture, injury, muscle tension, stress physical or emotional, pregnancy and many other ways.

If we try to run software on an operating system which is not kept up-to-date or maintained properly or if it is not supported, then the system will slow down, crash or just refuse to open. Think of our bodies in the same way. Any movement which is not balanced and supported by our frames or any overload on any joint (through carrying extra weight or over exercising) will cause our operating system (musculo-skeletal) to crash (injury) or the software to slow down (other muscles compensating and creating dysfunctions, fatigue, spasms and inflammation ). All of this could lead to instability and pain which in turn will stop us from moving altogether (computer freeze).

Sometimes if our system does have a problem, just like computers, when we do reboot, not repairing the system properly or ignoring the warning messages, we will crash again or make things worse. Often, we are either too eager to get on with our lives, changing absolutely nothing, but because the root of the malfunction has not been addressed, we may be able to stay at this stage for a while (imagine ignoring pain and stop and start doing the same thing over and over) but we will eventually crash completely. In the case of a computer, that’s when we take action to go and buy new hardware or get the old one fixed or upgraded.

Similarly we go to get our fixes, our doctors: from physios to osteopaths to orthopaedic specialists and either we learn from our mistakes and retrain our neuro pathways to move correctly or we fall into the same old habits and the injuries keep reoccurring. Unfortunately we cannot exchange our body for a new model we can try to upgrade it with therapies and surgeries. Even then unless the operating system is working correctly faults and congestions will always appear and the machine , the body, eventually will break down.

Keeping the system up to date or running it at the efficiency in which it becomes stable, means choosing a programme that the operating system can handle and requires minimum effort. Likewise choosing a movement that keeps the joints in our body lubricated and stable is the key to exercising efficiently with minimum effort. More importantly keeping up to date with the information which is available, upgrading to a new functionality of movement as me move through our lives, when situations and environments change, is also very important. We cannot run a program which is no longer compatible so as we go through our lives even the choices of exercise are important to stay pain free, injury free and still function to the most efficient way well into our golden ages.

Having so much information to hand helps to keep us on track and we can easily find out what is best for our body. Finding a class that suits anyone and everyone, all ages, all body types, all personalities is so much easier online.

Technology has improved so much that anyone can find suitable classes within a convenient distance and check out the class level and content online, book and reserve places and in most countries even pay online. In some cases online tuition may be available, either personal or in groups, so there is really no excuse for not keeping fit using the most appropriate work out techniques for you as an individual.

The way in which health and fitness centres project themselves to the outside world has also improved. From yellow pages and phone directories, things have evolved now using emails, websites, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Forums where everyone can share information and discuss pertinent matters are at the tip of a finger, webinars and facetime calls are other new ways of keeping up to date with the most recent information. E-zines and e-mails are used to communicate with the general public, keeping an endless flow of information available to all, regardless of their health or wealth position. These are also all useful ways for a new business to establish itself, or an existing business to expand. The choice of website and content, as well as other media networking platforms, is also very important for starting up a business in our industry.