Building Foundations vs Taking Shortcuts

Building Foundations vs Taking Shortcuts
Written by Tricia Moore

It’s almost instinctive and expected today that we want things to be easier, faster, and better. But shortcuts don’t guarantee success. Quite the reverse in fact. When we take shortcuts we tend to get careless and place more emphasis on efficiency than on quality. In order to get stronger, stay safe, and explore new movements with a solid foundation we need to reframe our thinking.  

Having both operated my own business for over 20 years and now working one on one with individuals looking to improve their lives and create positive change, I have seen the shortcut method time and again. I have asked myself – Why is it such a psychological battle for people to avoid jumping ahead and skipping steps? Here are three reasons you should care.

You may have never done a foundational movement correctly. 
Have you had a Coach evaluate your movement? Have you had your nutrition, sleep, pull-ups, split squat, hollow hold, breathing, bracing and push-up evaluated with a Coach? Can any of these elements improve? If yes, keep working at improving it. If no – you are a miracle maker. 🙂 Once you honor the importance of these foundational movements, the more complex moments can be practiced with safety and efficacy in mind.  

Foundations ≠ easy. 
Unfortunately, the word foundation is oftentimes confused with easy. Because these are foundational steps, they can often be viewed as lower order and less difficult to master. However, fundamentals are quite the contrary of easy, and people don’t give them the credit they are due. 

The truth is that building a great set of foundations can take years. In our especially crazy modern world, anything that takes a long time will immediately become more challenging than something that is short term in nature. We are a society that demands immediate gratification.

Why would I commit to a process of learning pull-ups over the years when I can start kipping right away? Why might I follow a plan that asks me to slowly change my eating habits? Why should I slowly make behavioral shifts to improve sleep quality?  Why? Becauseit’s the right way to build a long term healthy lifestyle – that’s why. And, small consistent changes aren’t easy. Just ask anyone who has tried to make them, most of the time they stop. The foundations of health and movement ARE NOT EASY. They require your time and respect. 

This is not a ‘set it and forget it’ concept. 
Setting up foundations in a healthy lifestyle is NOT unlike building a concrete structure that will hold for centuries. Our lifestyle, movement, sleep ,and nutritional foundations require maintenance and remodeling from time to time. It’s 2020, has your focus evolved? Good, it should. Reevaluating what is important to you, how you might want to shift direction or focus is a worthy conversation to have with yourself.  Our short and medium-term goals all come to an end on a regular basis. (COVID QUARANTINE ANYONE?) 

However, for many people, these goals tumble and fall over if we are set off path, in these times we have the potential to remodel and strengthen them or we can choose to let them erode and send us slipping into bad habits. Always come back to your foundations every so often.