Do you work out? I’ve RE-started recently working out. Exercising is a good practice for health, so it should improve your life too. And I actually think that what fitness should be about: getting your body to function at its best. Not necessarily burning fat or packing on some muscle.

Though that’s a nice side effect, it’s no more a primary focus for me.

I say I’ve RE-started working out because I’m able again to do so. I’ve injured my hip over 3 years ago and I didn’t fix it properly until this year, May 2016. I won’t go into details, but let’s say even though I could walk normally, I always felt discomfort or pain. Every day, every night. However today, I’m almost new.

Why am I telling you this?

First, because exercising is definitely good for health and I maintain what I just said about body functions. You may want to investigate functional training, mobility drills and stretching instead of just heavy lifting.

I’m not saying you should stop that if you enjoy it and get results that make you happy. No. But the lighter work is also damn important to take care of your body and prevent future injuries, or in my case repair those.

But you’re right, it’s not the main aim of this post. Here it is.

The real reason of this post is to illustrate that you should be a constant learner.

Learn to improve your life.

If there are topics, or hobbies and passions in your life, always learn more. The best experts in their field constantly learn new things. That’s how they stay at the top. They have to hone their skills too.

To improve your life means, to make it better. It can be personal or professional. And it can also be something you already master.

With the internet, you have access to tons of blogs, kindle books instantly transfered to your device, free training videos on YouTube, and podcasts from highly talented people.

Back to my injury repair situation. Before I found the stretches that fixed my hip pain (I’d say I’m now at 90%, I need strenghtening) I would just perform some stretches. Those were not that effective, I just tried to stretch the areas that I felt stiff, without reaching the proper muscles or joints.

That’s when I decided to learn anatomy…

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Well, sure I’m not a doctor or physical therapist. But I went to Google images and types various hip anatomy keywords and discovered the muscles, joints, and bones names in this area.

This is where the magic started (okay not magic but actual pain relief).

Once you know what these “things” are called, what they do (or should do), it’s much easier to target those.

Learn Solutions, Fix Problems

So I learnt the language of the hip. Few visits on YouTube searching for [INSERT BODY PART] + stretch or mobility opens a ton of possibilities.

I quickly found the works of Kelly Starrett, mobility expert, author of How to Become a Supple Leopard, and recently Deskbound about fixing posture, moving, and how sitting is killing us. The guy is a crossfitter and has the body to prove it, but he is also as flexible as a yogi. I recommend you check his YouTube channel and his books (links at the end of the post).

One of Kelly’s famous quotes is “everyone should be able to perform basic maintenance moves“.

True, just learn how things work there. It’s so important you know what’s going on in your body.

So if you’ve been into mobility drills, or yoga and pilates maybe you already know some stretch moves and the muscles or joints involved.

But for me it was the first time I heard about cool muscle names such as the Psoas. Which is a damn important muscle in your body, attached to your lumbar vertebrae, pelvis and femur. I guess it may be a problem if it’s damaged.

When was the last time you heard a trainer tell you “Today, it’s Psoas day! Let’s strengthen this bad boy.”

You can see the psoas and nearby muscles on the picture. All of those have a function. I’m not including a joints picture though it would certainly add more vocabulary to everyone 😉 Ah that damn iliosacrum area!

When you have a balance problem, as caused from my injury, other body parts that you think not related to your injury will also get involved. Such as the glutes (the butt muscles). I’m now stretching those regularly in addition to hip flexors.

The mobility I got back, the ability to walk, run and workout, and even sleep without feeling pain is a huge improvement in my lifestyle.

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Learn. Execute. Improve.

Anyway, knowledge is one thing (it’s even believed to be power). But execution is everything.

What you do with what you learn should be the aim. Learning about all this, I have been able to perform moves that got me my mobility back. But that also means that I can write about it and share that knowledge with others.

For a marketer, writer, or blogger, that means a lot. It can be a new lead magnet, a new short Kindle book about a very specific topic, it can be another blog post that leads to your optin or product, or your new video training.

For your audience, it’s another reason to have you as the go-to person who fix each of their problem.

And sharing your knowledge to others is taking action. And maybe even get others to take action, by inspiring and empowering them. See that as trading value.

Again, be a constant learner. Be a constant action taker.

Books from Kelly Starrett:

• Becoming a Supple Leopard 2nd Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance
• Deskbound: Standing Up to a Sitting World
• Ready to Run: Unlocking Your Potential to Run Naturally

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I hope you got something from this post. It’s another freestyle writing exercise that got ideas emerged and I tried to connect the dots.

Please share your thoughts in the comments below, and what you plan on learning to implement so you improve your life or business. Or what you’ve already accomplished and that you’d like to transfer to others.