In this article, I am going to be reiterating one of the main focus points and founding principles of AskMarissa.com, which is:
USING EXERCISE AS MEDICINE.
Instead of turning towards pharmaceutical alternatives, we at AskMarissa.com believe that just like Nutrition, Exercise itself can be used as medicine. What this means is that there is not one specific type of fitness routine or class that someone can take that will cater to their body-and-mind specific needs.
We all go through different phases and experiences in life—sometimes we feel great physically, but we just need a little motivation! If this is the case for you, then I’m very happy that AskMarissa.com is where you found your motivation to become the best version of yourself!
Unfortunately, there are other phases in life that seem to last forever, where we just don’t feel good at all… … …we feel downright crappy—whether we’re battling a chronic illness or depression or grief, or coming off an injury or hospitalization, or we’re pregnant, or recently post-partum. Perhaps we were once a superstar athlete and now everything just hurts or is at risk of hurting if we move the wrong way.
If this sounds like you, then you’re probably just looking for a gentle way to ease into a mild exercise routine into our day to make it feel like, “Hey! I did it! I got up and I got up and out and did something great for ME!” Well, we are very honored that you came to AskMarissa.com for help! We have everything you need to guide you on your transition back to good Health!
We understand what you have been through; we’ve been there. The common sense thing would just be to go to the local health club or a nearby fitness boutique. But these fitness “stores” will not address our health-specific needs. While these may be fun for socializing and accomplishing the task of getting out of the house into a different scene other than work, they will do nothing more for health than put you in a room filled with other people’s toxic sweat doing arbitrary movements that are very often unhealthy and injurious (such as is the case with yoga).
Your first visit to the Health Club will probably go as follows: you’ll go to check out the place, and a perky membership counselor with a fake smile and a degree in Sales and Marketing (as opposed to Exercise Science or Sports Medicine) will sell you into a contract to the all-fits-one health club they themselves don’t even work out in. Then there’s the newest trend in fitness, other than having a gadget to look “cool.” This new trend is considered “boutique fitness.” These boutiques are nothing more than a store run by a hobbyist who is selling you something as detrimental as a 7-minute work-out or hot yoga or barre or something else that bares little semblance to anything medically nutritional or physically therapeutically, run by someone without any credentials in kinesiology and nutrition or any background in sports or fitness.
While it doesn’t sound cute enough to fit into the category of “boutique fitness,” this certainly includes something as intense as CrossFit, as this trend is VERY DANGEROUS. What is most important in CrossFit is getting as many reps in as little time as possible, sacrificing any and all technique or form whatsoever. Annnnd, just as with any other boutique fitness, CrossFit is BIG BUSINESS that is exploiting people’s need to feel like they’re a part of something. This is why old Mom n’ Pop gyms that had everything you needed to get in shape and seriously reach strength goals are rapidly becoming a thing of the Past.
With too many spoilt Millenials LARPing as informed individuals and dictating everything that goes on in this ever-changing world, including their lack of coping mechanisms for challenges, health facts, and hard work that pays off, they are trying to force us into their little Safe Space of pretending that sharing the Check-In to the hot yoga boutique down the street on social media or having the latest piece of nerd gear (e.g. the radiation-emitting FitBit, SmartWatch, etc.) is more important than their actual physical strength, nutritional needs, and, of course, the interests of others who truly need REAL, FUNCTIONAL FITNESS and a program that fits their medical needs—in other words, the health and medical-related interests of someone like YOU.
