How to Manage Chronic Pain In Work

If you suffer from chronic pain, you know the fear & frustration of trying to deal with it in work.

Worrying that you won’t last through a long meeting.

Getting annoyed at your desk as you can’t concentrate on your job.

Trying to appear normal but the tightness & pain is doing your head in.

An ergonomic chair or a standing desk isn’t the answer, it’s only treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

In this newsletter I will share the strategy & tactics I use with clients to manage chronic pain in work.

Chasing the Wrong Culprit

There is nothing wrong with using the standing desk, or the ergonomic chair.

I’m not saying they aren’t useful, I had them myself back in the 9-5 days.

But it’s not addressing the bigger picture.

The issue isn’t our ‘posture’, the issue is our lack of movement throughout the day.

So relying on different tools that try to put is in ‘better postures’ won’t work.

The best posture is the next posture.

The special chair or standing desks will probably help, it will probably give some relief, but it won’t solve the overall issue of chronic pain & tightness in work.

We are not designed to be sedentary. We are designed to move.

For the deep dive on this, you can read the story of the human body.

What do the special forces of the army do when they have a mission? They utilise strategy & tactics to ensure they get the job done.

We are going to do the same.

Now that we know the main issue, we can approach it with a solid strategy & tactics.

Strategy & Tactics

A strategy is “a plan of action, a long term or overall aim”.

And tactics are “an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end”.

In simple terms

  • Strategy: the overall long term plan (overcoming chronic pain)
  • Tactics: the smaller plans within the big strategy, that help you move forward towards achieving the overall aim

The higher level strategy is:

1) Understanding what pain is
2) Working on a mobility program

The lower level tactics you can employ in work are:

1) Movement snacks
2) Micro movements

1) Understand What Pain Is (Strategy)

To get long term progress with any issue, you need to start with why.

If you don’t actually know what pain is, you will never know how to manage it.

I have covered this already with an in-depth free resource: what pain is & how to manage it 

This covers the bio-psycho-social model of pain (and many other things). It will radically change your understanding & experience of pain.

If you are already aware of this, you can go to step 2.

2) Mobility Program (Strategy)

Now that you understand how your pain is basically a combination of a multitude of factors across:

  • your biology
  • your psychology
  • your social circle/environment

We can start ticking the biology boxes with a program for your specific movement limitations.

You can read more about the framework I use to design clients programs here: how to build a resilient body.

Starting off I usually split client programs up into:

  • daily movements (5-10 mins)
  • harder exercises (30-60 mins)

This addresses the reactive approach we have with our bodies. (you brush your joints everyday now like your teeth).

And it also enables you to do your daily routine (or some of your harder exercises) as part of the movement snacks tactic.

1) Movement Snacks (Tactic)

“There is no perfect posture. The only ‘bad’ posture is the one you spend too long in”.

That line changed my life in terms of dealing with chronic pain during my 9-5 days.

Sitting on a special chair all day, standing at your elevated desk all day, these aren’t the silver bullet.

The answer isn’t being a robot in a certain ‘good’ position, the answer is variety.

You can achieve this through movement variability. Through movement snacks spread throughout the day.

Instead of reactively waiting for my back or neck to ache, I started proactively getting up from my desk at the first sign (or even before) any tightness came.

I would either:

  • go for a walk to get water/tea/coffee
  • do a lap of the floor/building/walk outside
  • do my daily routine/harder movements in the disabled bathroom or training room

Then back to my desk 10 mins later feeling resfreshed, instead of uncomfortable & frustrated.

Nobody notices. People who have worked with me in the past reading this won’t have known.

2) Micro Movements (Tactic)

One of the simplest things you can do to ease chronic pain/tightness at work?

Just change position.

You can:

  • Sit off at an angle instead of upright
  • Stand instead of sitting
  • Sit in the coffee area chairs instead of at your desk.

Sometimes all it takes is a little adjustment in your chair, or sitting somewhere else.

Have a few positions that you can alternate between during the day that feel good, and rotate between them.

As I write this now at my apartment from my little office set up, I am leaning onto the left arm of the desk chair.

I’ll stay here for 20 mins or so until it gets slightly uncomfortable, then I’ll switch to the other side or back to the middle.

Or cross one leg over the other, and vice versa after that gets a little uncomfortable.

I switch between this office set up and my couch throughout the day too. 2 hour block on the couch, break. 2 hour block at the desk.

No rules, I just do what feels good and keeps me pain free & productive.

Its so ingrained and part of my life now that I don’t even notice. I just got reminded of it here writing this!

But I still remember the old days of looking for the best stretch that will stop my chronic neck tightness forever. For my hip. For my back.

They are dead end illusions. No one stretch will solve it.

The problem isn’t your body. Your body wasn’t designed for sedentary office work as we discussed.

The problem is the lack of movement, so we need to follow a process of movement.

Movement snacks & micro movements are a very easy and effective way to get this done.

Be proactive with this and you will notice the massive difference in how you feel day to day.

With your body and your work output.

Proactively Combat the Issue

The key is proactively looking after your body, and fitting this into your daily life.

Start your movement snacks & micro movements this week and you will see the difference in how you move & feel.

Along with your work output not being affected by constant tightness & pain.

You have a lot more control over your chronic pain & injury than you think.

Don’t Settle,
Mark

 

The Story of the Human Body

The first book I read that opened my eyes to where we have actually come from was ‘The Story of the Human Body’ by Daniel Lieberman.

This book shattered most of the misinformation I had followed on the human body from the mainstream all my life. It’s the book that started my journey to physical freedom.

This book is about evolutionary biology. It starts the journey of the human body all the way from the beginning of humans in Africa 6 million years ago, all the way up to now.

We share 99% of our DNA with chimps if you are unaware. We have a common ancestor.

This books tracks the evolution of the human body the whole way through those 6 million years, and all the adaptations that have happened up to now.

It also shows how most of the biggest issues in the world today are man-made. How our exponential progress was a double-edged sword.

We have conquered the planet and rose to the top of the food chain. But this has also led to the decline of our health and the rise of disease.

After reading this, I could see the whole bigger picture of why I was in chronic pain and the route back to my physical freedom.

Along with many other issues in my life.

The Environment Shapes Us

Reading about evolutionary biology will make you realise the massive impact the environment has on your body and life.

Living in this modern environment that we aren’t adapted for, is what has caused the biggest issues of our times.

One of the crucial points Daniel highlights in the book is that most of the issues of today are ‘mismatch diseases’:

Humans living in an environment they are not adapted for.

The following example always stuck with me:

  • In the hunter gatherer days we had an abundance of movement, and very little food
  • In modern life we have an abundance of food, and very little movement

It’s the exact opposite of what we were designed for.

And it all becomes clear why the biggest issues of our times are:

  • Cardiovascular diseases (the biggest killer in the world)
  • Chronic back pain (the biggest chronic pain in the world)
  • Anxiety/depression

They didn’t exist back in the hunter gathererer days, they are man-made mismatch diseases.

Before, you might have to run 10km to get your dinner. Now, you open the fridge or get it delivered to your door. Obesity was inevitable.

Before, you would move through full range of motion each day with an active lifestyle. There were no chairs, you sat in your deep squat. Now, we sit all day and barely move outside of maybe 1 designated hour per day (the gym). Chronic pain & injury was inevitable.

Hence diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic pain & injury are prevalent in our times.

This gave me a lightbulb moment: the environment is shaping our body everyday outside of our awareness.

We only notice years or decades later when we start to feel like the tin man.

This shattered the illusion of the ‘experts’ and their ‘diagnoses’ for me. That it’s too late to regain physical freedom.

I could see how they were only giving me their opinion through a narrow keyhole of expertise. Not taking into account the bigger picture of evolution.

My body isn’t f***ed like I’m led to believe, it’s the environment that changed my body from a baby with physical freedom, to the tin man adult I was.

I was being told change is impossible, but yet I have already changed from physical freedom to tin man through the environment of the western world.

Which means I can change back towards more physical freedom. They are 2 sides of the same coin. If one wasn’t possible, the other wouldn’t be.

The environment is the main problem here, not my body. My body can only adapt to the environment I give it.

If I change my environment, I will change my body.

Lifestyle Change

We have to use the knowledge of how crucial the environment is to our body.

We have to factor this into our life.

This lifestyle change will be the most important factor for you to regain physical freedom for the rest of your life.

1) Brush Your Joints

The analogy I use with client to teach them this point is “brush your joints just like your teeth”.

You brush your teeth twice a day without fail, but do nothing for your body, why?

Would you rather:

  • have white teeth at 50 but have a crippled body in a wheelchair?
  • have physical freedom at 50 but have dentures?

Every single person I have asked says physical freedom.

That is what they say, but their ACTIONS are leading them down the other path. Your actions show your priorities in life, not your words.

This analogy highlights the fact that they have the proactive lifestyle change in place for their teeth, but not for their body.

When I was first explained this by a coach around the time I read this book, it blew my mind. Everything started finally making sense.

All the time I had spent looking for the fix, the answers. And the truth was such a simple one all along. One that when you hear it, you don’t understand how you never realised it before.

This lifestyle change is the first crucial pillar to regaining your physical freedom long term.

I teach clients how to incorporate this proactive approach for their bodies going forward, just like they do for their teeth.

Because I don’t just want to help clients overcome chronic pain & injury and have them fall back into it again when they leave.

I am here to empower clients to keep their physical freedom going forward for life.

When you understand this lifestyle change pillar, you can see why you are always on the roundabout of injuries & average progress.

The mainstream route is all a reactive approach, not proactive. So you will keep going back to them forever without getting the results you want.

Like a person who is confused by his teeth going black & falling out when he never brushes them. Even though he goes to his regular dentist appointment.

2) Determine Your Priorities

Now that I have brought this into your awareness, you have to decide your own priorities in life.

If you value your teeth more than your body, keep going as you are.

If you value your teeth more (or atleast) as much as you value your teeth, start prioritising them too.

Otherwise you are living a lie. You are saying you prioritise your body, but you aren’t. Aspirations not backed up by actions are where regret comes from.

As Musashi says: “Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is. You can bend to it’s power or live a lie”.

After facing this harsh truth, I started taking a proactive approach with my body 6 years ago.

I brush my joints each morning just like I brush my teeth, still to this day.

I don’t think about it. It’s just part of my life now.

If you want long term success in any part of your life, you make the crucial task part of who you are, not something you ‘do’.

I’m a person who values my physical freedom highly. So I look after my body each day. Period.

You have to make your choice.

3) Daily Movements

If you choose to prioritise your body by brushing your joints daily, there are many ways to incorporate this into your life.

For each client, I split their program up into:

  • Daily movements (5 mins daily)
  • Harder exercises (30-60 mins x 3 times per week)

The daily movements are there to build this proactive lifestyle change into their routines.

After working with hundreds of clients & getting testimonials that could make me look like a guru, do you want the truth on what clients usually tell me helped them the most?

The daily movements. The proactive approach of looking after their body.

The height of cultivation runs through simplicity, to quote Bruce Lee. A man who knew a thing or two about getting results.

If you want to stick with something, you need to make it as easy & effective as possible.

Like I tell clients on the consultation call before signing up: if you can’t prioritise atleast 5 mins a day for the only body you will ever have, then I can’t help you.

A harsh truth.

But the other side of harsh truths is the progress you want but couldn’t get before.

Change Your Environment, Change Your Body

Your body isn’t f***ed.

Your athletic pursuits aren’t over.

This isn’t how your story has to end.

If you change the environment you give your body each day, your body will start to change.

This is not my opinion, this is science. This is mother nature.

This is a fundamental law of nature that us humans can’t skip.

Adam & Frances are 2 clients from the Physical Freedom Program who come to mind for this topic.

You can see them specifically say how much the lifestyle change/daily movements helped them regain physical freedom.

Look past the big picture transformation to the process behind it. There is nothing special about it, they just followed an effective process.

Address this pivotal lifestyle change, or become part of the statistic suffering from the mismatch disease of chronic pain & injury.

Focus on the process & the outcome takes care of itself.

You have a lot more control than you are led to believe.

Don’t Settle,
Mark

How to Manage Chronic Pain Flare Ups

1) Understand Pain 

“Your brain cares about survival, not optimal”.

Your brain only has one goal: survival. That’s it.

Pain is ultimately a protective mechanism for survival.

Your brain doesn’t care if you are in ‘chronic pain’. You’re alive.

As far as it’s concerned, all is good. You can survive & reproduce and keep the species living on.

So it’s up to you to learn about the pain mechanism and how to manage it, or else it can stay in undesirable patterns forever.

I have a detailed newsletter on “what pain is and how to manage it”. Read that one for a deeper dive on pain.

Here are 3 analogies you can use to remember why the protective mechanism of pain happens:
• It’s like the driving instructor pulling up the handbrake to protect the driver
• It’s like an overprotective mother grounding you for your own good
• It’s like a fire alarm going off to smoke from the toaster

Protective mechanisms have to be overly cautious.

Otherwise they wouldn’t serve their purpose of protecting you.

You can gain peace knowing the pain signal goes off way before something really bad happens.

And this helps us not to catastrophise, which leads into point 2.

2) Treat It Like A Flu

Common flu symptoms are:

  • Fever/chills
  • Cough
  • Sore throat
  • Runny nose
  • Body aches
  • Headaches
  • Fatigue

And the list goes on.

Now imagine if you DIDN’T know what the flu was.

How would you feel if these symptoms started happening to you for the first time?!

You would be catastrophising & freaking the f**k out!!

You could think you are in your final hour. The grim reaper has called your name.

You would be calling the doctor and getting him over ASAP. You would go through this massive ordeal to find out that yeah, it’s not a big deal. It’s the flu. You’ll be ok.

And it’s the same with chronic pain flare-ups.

Once you understand what a flare up actually is, you can react to it just like you would a flu:

  • You know it has happened for a reason
  • You know you won’t be feeling great for days/weeks/months.
  • But you understand it’s not a big deal
  • You still go on and do what you can in the meantime

Catastrophising is a slippery slope that only makes things
worse.

It’s all downside and no upside. A terrible move on the chessboard of life.

It guarantees you will lose, but yet most people continually take it.

When we catastrophise, we are raising the stakes in our head. It’s like a poker game where you have gone all in.

You’ve made a normal situation into a life-or-death one.

Now you have the accompanying emotions for a high- stakes situation: anxiety, worry, fear etc.

But once you understand what a flare up is, you can handle it in the same way as a flu.

Treating flare ups like the flu enables you to lower the stakes, see it for what it really is, and take back control of the situation in an empowering way.

3) If You Can’t Do What You Want, Do What You Can

This is a frame I use for a lot of things in life.

But it’s very useful to manage flare ups too.

This frame trains us to focus on the opportunity within the obstacle.

Rather than sitting there feeling terrible about the obstacle itself.

If you can’t do what you want = the obstacle.
Do what you can = focus on the opportunity.

For example I have 2 torn meniscus in my knees and can’t do Jiu Jitsu right now. And I utilised this strategy:

If you can’t do what you want: Jiu-Jitsu 
Do what you can: kickboxing & muay thai

Rather than being down about not being able to do Jiu-Jitsu, I started kickboxing for the first time. And I did a month of Muay Thai when I was in Thailand. 

I focused on the opportunities NOT being able to do Jiu-Jitsu gave me.

When a flare up happens you can either take on the victim mindset and focus on what you can’t do. Or cultivate the Don’t Settle attitude and focus on what you can do.

Usually there are 3 options depending on how bad the flare up is:

  • Continue your training as usual (while being mindful not to irritate it further)
  • Modify your training.
  • Stop training something completely (like my Jiu-Jitsu example)

When you focus on what you can do, you are empowered no matter what happens.

Your focus becomes your reality. Choose where you put it wisely.

Don’t Settle,
Mark

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
  1. Physical Freedom Program
    (Overcome chronic pain & injury. Reach your athletic potential)
  2. Mental Freedom Course
    (Stop looping & suffering. Skillfully navigate your own mind)
  3. Lifestyle Design University
    (Avoid the biggest regret of humanity. Design the life true to yourself)

Resting Injuries Is Not the Answer

I have two examples in my life that clearly illustrate the point of this newsletter.

I had one injury where I completely rested it, and I had another injury where I didn’t.

The outcomes speak for themselves:
• Broken collarbone: rested it. Back after 6 months
• Maisonneuve fracture (broken leg & torn ankle ligaments): attentive rehab from day 2. Back in 7
weeks

So what did I learn from this experience?

That resting only makes you weaker.

It’s not the answer you are looking for.

Resting only makes you weaker


Based on the specificity of an injury, there will be a certain period of rest.

But it’s WAY less than you think. Way less.

Stress = stronger over time
Rest = weaker over time

Just like if you stopped going to the gym, you would get weaker in your lifts over time.

So we want to start moving and loading the injured area safely as soon as possible.

The problem with always resting injuries isn’t just that you will return much later than you could have.

This excessive care ends up becoming fragility training in disguise.

What you thought was helping you, was actually hindering you.

attentive progression over resting

1) We Get Stronger Through Exposure Not Avoidance 

The human body & mind get stronger through exposure, not avoidance.

Think of it like a patient overcoming a fear of needles.

The patient overcomes it through small graded exposure over time, not by avoiding needles completely.

If he avoids it completely (aka resting it), he will never overcome it.

It will plague him and hold him back for the rest of his life. And it’s the same with our body.

We use gradual exposure through moving & loading the injured area, instead of resting and avoiding it.

2) Movement & Progressive Loading 

The specificity of your injury and other factors will influence how this would look in a program for you.

But the overall goal remains the same:

Slowly & progressively load the injured area safely.

For my torn ankle ligaments, I knew adhering to the science of the human body would work. But the results blew me away.

After 7 weeks of safe movement & progressive loading, I had gone from the hospital bed back to the gym & Jiu- Jitsu. When I should have just been coming off crutches.

All done safely and progressively. And not exceeding a pain level of 3/10.

Listening to my body each day: toning it down when I overdid it slightly, and upping the intensity when I was adapting & getting stronger.

3) If You Can’t Do What You Want, Do What You Can

When we are going through any obstacle, there is always an opportunity in it. And injuries are no different.

When you are injured, there is always something you can do. You just have to train yourself to view life through this lens.

Broken leg & torn ankle ligaments?
• Can’t do lower body training
• CAN do more upper body training

I could do 3 upper body sessions a week instead of 1 or 2.

I made quicker progress on those than I would have without this injury.

From this strategy and not dropping off upper body, I hit the handstand pushup the following year. When it might never have happened if I did drop off.

Rest & Get Weaker or Move & Get Stronger


When you get an injury, there are only 2 options:
• Rest & get weaker
• Move & get stronger

I’ve lived both of them. And there is only one way for me to handle injuries from here on.

Attentive progression over resting. Moving and loading the injured area as soon as possible.

Listening to my body and understanding when to push and when to pull.

And getting on the small gain train towards regaining my Physical Freedom as quickly as possible.

We all have the same biology, the same ability to adapt. The only difference is how we use it.

If you need coaching and guidance through the process, that’s what I help clients with in the Physical Freedom Program.

Don’t Settle,
Mark 

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
  1. Physical Freedom Program
    (Overcome chronic pain & injury.
    Reach your athletic potential)
  2. Mental Freedom Course
    (Stop looping & suffering.
    Skillfully navigate your own mind)
  3. Lifestyle Design University
    (Avoid the biggest regret of humanity.
    Design the life true to yourself)

How To Build A Resilient Body

I’ve gone from being forced to settle and give up all sport, to running an untrained marathon in barefoot shoes 3 years later.

I learned so many things from this journey like:

  • How amazingly adaptable the human body & brain are
    (we are the most adaptable species on the planet)
  • The amazing power of small gains

And the topic of today’s newsletter: How to build a resilient body.

I was told my body wasn’t able to do the things I love anymore. The best ‘experts’ tried, but there is nothing | can do. Take up swimming I was told.

If I can go from A-Z with the knowledge of how to build a resilient body, you know that you can go from A-D. Or however far you want to take your Physical Freedom.

Misinformation In The Mainstream


Those who we place on pedestals and look up to, usually don’t even have the level of competence in the thing they preach about.

Misinformation is spread like fertiliser.

In all areas of my life it’s been people with real-life experience & results who finally showed me the way.

The ones with skin in the game who earned this wisdom & insight through the battlefield of life, not the illusion of it through the classroom.

I go on the hunt for results in a chosen field without the limitations of dogma, and I put in the work to reach a high level of competence in that area.

Then I distill my experience down into what actually works.

I attempt to part the sea of mainstream bullshit like Moses, so that others like younger Marcus can see the real path forward now.

How To Build A Resilient Body


1) Mobility

Mobility is the range of motion that you currently have.

I say ‘currently’ because you can train to change it.

You had the mobility of a gymnast as a baby, you just lost it over decades as your body adapted to this modern life.

You didn’t ‘use it’ so you ‘lost it’. You lost it through small gains, so you can get it back through small gains.

Based on a movement assessment and questionnaire on your injury history, I can see what movements your body is currently missing.

The human body only has 3 planes of motion that it can move in.

Once you understand this in detail, you can map out EVERY possible movement of the human body.

Now I can identify the movements people are missing.

After the assessment, I program mobility exercises for clients to regain the ranges of motion that they have lost.

Clients are always shocked to see how much range of motion they have lost without realising. How they have been compensating their way through sport & life.

They can’t do the most basic movements in a controlled environment at home, and yet they think they can go play on a pitch at full intensity and be fine?!

Their eyes are opened to the truth. They have a lot of mobility limitations that need to be addressed.

When they understand what pain is & how to manage it through the education hub too, it all fits together and finally starts to make sense why they are tight, stiff & in chronic pain.

Now they can see the route forward to Physical Freedom.

2) Strength

Strength is our ability to produce & absorb force.

Producing more force will help with performance, and being able to absorb more force will help with injury mitigation.

Clients who are athletes usually have some form of S&C training with their clubs. So they have decent strength.

The majority of clients who come to me don’t need help with strength. It’s mobility & coordination that are the glaring limitations holding them back.

A great example here is Harry Purcell: an Irish sprinter.

He was strong as an ox as you would imagine. He had his own physio, S&C coach & full team around him.

He was training towards the Tokyo Olympics at the time. So am I really going to help him with his basic strength?! No.

But I did identify limitations in his mobility and coordination, and he worked on those.

It really did open my eyes to the poor level of care in this industry.

He’s a national-level sprinter, an elite athlete who you think would be fully prepared for his sport, and yet he couldn’t do basic hip mobility movements a child could easily do. His eyes were opened too.

Once he worked on the mobility & coordination limitations, he could finally get through an intense training phase before competition without injury.

The results? He won his first men’s national title. You can read his story by clicking here.

The takeaway:

Strength is important, but adding 10kg onto your squat or deadlift isn’t going to solve your chronic pain & injury holding you back from your full potential.

What else is there to take into account? Coordination. The dark horse nobody really knows about.

3) Coordination

Coordination is upgrading your software to use your range of motion more optimally.

We all develop movement patterns when we learn how to walk and run etc as a child.

Our movement patterns will be different based on our anatomy, the length of our limbs etc.

We develop our own ‘coordination’ as we grow and move through life. Your personal movement pattern is like your fingerprint: it’s unique to you.

But when you get injured, your coordination changes.

The problem is that your coordination doesn’t just ‘reset’ to optimal after your injury is healed. It stays the same.

This lack of optimal coordination is what can lead to issues over time that you can’t seem to explain.

Your Body Is An Instrument Not An Ornament


Are you going to internalise the self-limiting beliefs spread like fertiliser in the mainstream making people settle?

Or get on the small gain train towards a resilient body? Towards your Physical Freedom?

I write these newsletters because I’ve walked both paths.

One left me a broken man physically and mentally, filled with regret. The other has set me free.

If you had a son or daughter in the same position as you, what would you tell them to do?

Realise that answer is what you really want for yourself.

Don’t settle, and go after what you want in this one life you have.

Physical Freedom is an integral part of everyone’s path, because it’s your vehicle for life no matter what you do.

Don’t Settle,
Mark

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

  1. Physical Freedom Program
    (Overcome chronic pain & injury.
    Reach your athletic potential)
  2. Mental Freedom Course
    (Stop looping & suffering.
    Skillfully navigate your own mind)
  3. Lifestyle Design University
    (Avoid the biggest regret of humanity.
    Design the life true to yourself)

Continue reading

How to Incorporate Mobility Into Your Busy Life

What separates people in life is down to what they do each day.

You can spin it whatever way you want, but this is the reality:

You behave your way to success or failure, one day at a time.

If you can’t gain control over your habits and align them with the outcomes you want in life, it’s not going to happen.

You already have habits. Everyone does.

But if you aren’t where you want to be with your body, mindset or life, then you just haven’t consciously chosen your habits.

Now it’s time to choose.

We Are All Busy 


We have all dropped off before. We all live busy lives.

I wlil show you 3 strategies you can use to help you ingrain the habit of working on your mobility.

So that no matter what happens, you can still prioritise your Physical Freedom. As it’s your vehicle for life.

I’ve had client who were managers in big corporate companies, while also being a father/mother.

It’s possible to prioritise your Physical Freedom and incorportate it into any lifestyle if you know how.

The Physical Freedom Program is less than 2% of your week.

The time is there, you just don’t have the strategies to know how to incorporate it into your life. 

Building Better Habits


1) The ‘Just Do Something’ Rule
This is an effective strategy that helps us overcome the feeling of a task being daunting & overwhelming.
 
When we perceive something to be a lot of effort, it increases the friction between us doing the task.
 
If you aren’t motivated to do your mobility on a certain day, just make a commitment to do the bare minimum:
– the first exercise
– the first 5 mins
 
After that if you want to stop, you can. It’s not a trick!
 

Those 5 mins will still add up massively over time like a pension in the mobility bank. That’s the beauty of the power of small gains!

2) The Backup Day

Pick a day during the week where you have free time.

Maybe a Saturday/Sunday or else dead time. (when you are forced to sit around)

Pick 30-60 mins on this day as a slot where you can catch up on the exercises you missed during the week.

This helps you avoid the ‘all or nothing’ mindset that cripples most people. Once the inevitable week comes where you don’t get everything done that you planned to.

Navy Seals will have a contingency plan. So why wouldn’t you? If you want to operate at high levels of physical & mental performance, you should learn from those who strive for it.

Navy Seals operations don’t always go to plan, and neither will yours. But with a backup plan, you can always move forward.

3) Habit Stacking

This is where you stack a new habit onto an already existing habit. (e.g. mobility routine as the kettle boils)

No doubt you drinkn tea/coffee, so you will boil the kettle many times per day, EVERY day.

If you stack your mobility onto an existing habit you do everyday, now you will do your mobility everyday.

Another option is to do the mobility during work hours. Now you are getting paid to improve your mobility!

I used this strategy in my old 9-5 jobs.

Your work output doesn’t have to suffer from this either.

This will force you to be more productive with your actual hours spent working. To cut the fluff and be more effective & efficient.

Use Habits or Let Them Use You


We all have habits. Whether you realise it or not.

They are the behaviours happening under the radar every day.

Habits can propel or derail your life. 

They will either move you closer towards your goals, or further away from them.

It’s all down to how you use them.

Start implementing some of the strategies discussed here, and you will start to behave your way towards a life with more Physical Freedom.

Even while living a busy life.

Don’t Settle,
Mark


Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
  1. Physical Freedom Program
    (Overcome chronic pain & injury.
    Reach your athletic potential)
  2. Mental Freedom Course
    (Stop looping & suffering.
    Skillfully navigate your own mind)
  3. Lifestyle Design University
    (Avoid the biggest regret of humanity.
    Design the life true to yourself)
  4.  

3 Steps to Regaining Your Physical Freedom

Sitting in the physio’s waiting area, I reflect on years of chronic pain, countless consultations, and dashed hopes for recovery. At 25, once a vibrant athlete, I now feel like the tin man, unable to enjoy life’s simple pleasures without discomfort. Despite relentless efforts and financial investment, each expert visit yields only temporary relief, leaving me frustrated and desperate.

After another disappointing session, I hit rock bottom. Faced with settling for a life of limitations, I refuse to accept defeat. Rejecting the conventional healthcare route, I resolve to take control of my recovery journey. My turning point? The realization that true empowerment comes from within.

I outline three crucial steps to reclaiming physical freedom: lifestyle change, perspective shift, and educational empowerment. I emphasize the importance of proactive self-care, deepening the mind-body connection, and understanding the root causes of pain.

Rejecting the notion of settling, I urge others to challenge the status quo and prioritize their well-being. Through my “Physical Freedom Program,” I offer guidance to those ready to break free from the cycle of chronic pain and limitations.

With newfound clarity and determination, I embark on a mission to empower others, one small gain at a time.

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