Wellness Tip:

Small Moves Add Up

It’s hard to stay energized all day long, when daily movement takes a back seat. Notice we said movement and not workouts. Movement is easy to stay consistent with, is incredible for your strength, mobility, and weight management-only takes a few minutes vs. an hour at the gym!

Ready to notice and feel drastic changes mentally, physically and emotionally? Let’s dive in.

Routine Breakdown

Ash Higbee, Panda Planner’s Movement Director

Ash has lost 70 lbs postpartum and rid chronic body pain using this routine (she now calls Daily Mama Moves Method-and has helped 1000’s of women feel, look, and live their best lives!

Her Routine

1. Choose the Path OF resistance.

We are wired to choose the “easy way” in every situation. By choosing resistance, you allow every moment to be an opportunity for movement, living a more active lifestyle  (sit on the floor instead of the couch, squat more instead of sitting on a chair, park farther away, take the stairs, walk to the mailbox instead of drive, lunge to the bathroom instead of mindlessly walk, etc.)

Benefits – revs up metabolism, boosts mood, de stresses, improves circulation, more logical thinking, less cravings.

2. Sprinkle in 1-5 minute movement sessions. 

This can be a 2 minute dance party, 1 minute of hanging or counter top push ups, an office stretch break, etc.

Benefits – moves your body in new ways, avoiding hitting a plateau, building more strength and mobility, + all benefits above

3. The 4 F’s – form, function, fewer, feet above all else. 

Don’t stress about reps, focus on how you’re doing what you’re doing, why you’re doing what you’re doing (how will this move make my life better and easier?) fewer moves- Yup, less IS more- slow down your movements and watch your strength improve drastically  and of course, if you are able, try and be barefoot more!

When you can view fitness differently through the lens of movement, you begin to feel those daily aches/pains melt away, your body composition change, and your overall abilities both mentally and physically soar!

Why it works:

Our body was made to MOVE in new and novel ways out in nature- walk, run, jump, climb, hang, squat, throw, bend, twist, lunge, push, pull, etc.

When you begin to understand this, you are actually feeding your body what it needs (often from home with no equipment and no more than pockets of 2-5 mins of dedicated time!) when you move more, in different ways, your body is constantly trying to support you building strength in all your little stability muscles and more mobility in your joints to keep you thriving.

Ash is on all the socials, but recently started TikTok dedicated to this kind of movement focus only – you can find her here :

https://www.tiktok.com/@ownyourhealthnow?_t=8mpMT7KE4zO&_r=

(And she takes requests!) if there’s something you would like her to create, as part of our Panda fam you have priority! Just follow and message her on TikTok, tell her you’re from the Panda Fam, and she’ll create movement specific content per your request as a priority!