wait for it

It's the standard gym pick-up line, and I never have an easy answer. This is a line exclusive to the weight room, to men greeting other men or women. I have never heard a woman say these words (although if a client of mine appeared in the gym outside of our sessions I might be guilty). It's simply this: What are you working on today? More a connection point between lifters than a come on, the question expects an answer along the lines of "chest and tri's" or "pulling heavy today," with the more woke among us possibly mentioning "mobility" or even "my tree pose." For me, though, the explanation runs long. I've become an intuitive exerciser, something Dan John named the " park bench workout "; it's the art of adjusting your goals to your day or state of mind, of respecting your joints, injuries and the aging process. There's never just one thing I'm working on, for reasons the average lifter on his lunc...

I have understood the benefits of exercise to include maintenance, mobility, emotional wellness and a good reminder to breathe. I am a certified personal trainer, and I believe passionately in the power of movement. Thanks to several recent job changes, however, I see that exercise as I've defined it for years is privileged. The idea of sweating it out at the gym after work is a luxury. The photo of a healthy breakfast bowl is a slap in the face to those who can't afford smoked salmon. After a summer spent working light manual labor I thought that I had found the answer. Physical jobs can be the new chasing down your food activity of old: movement built into the workday can keep a person healthy and mobile. These people will stay fit and healthy, I reasoned , without needing to purchase a gym membership or make time for exercise. But the expectations of a physical job can require movement that is often asymmetrical in its demands on the body--think of a production wor...