The Joy of Movement by Kelly McGonigal

Author:Kelly McGonigal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

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In 1825, poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote, “Hope without an object cannot live.” Modern psychologists have come to a similar conclusion: Humans crave concrete goals and thrive when pursuing specific aims. C. R. Snyder, who conducted the most rigorous scientific analyses of hope, found that this state of mind—so crucial to our ability to persist in the face of life’s obstacles—requires three things. The first is a defined goal, that object on which hope lives. The second is a pathway to reach your goal. There must be steps you can take that lead to progress. The third is trusting that you are capable of pursuing that path. You must believe that you have the inner resources and the necessary support to take each step.

One way to think about DPI Adaptive Fitness is that it is an incubator for hope. At DPI, members set meaningful life intentions, like being able to drive or walk. The trainers then provide the pathway by setting concrete physical objectives, like hitting the number of squats or pull-ups that will develop the necessary strength or stamina. The entire environment, from the background music to the attitude of the trainers, is designed to increase members’ confidence that their goals can be met. Trainers make sure members notice the gains they make along the way. “In open gym classes, a participant will see someone walking better or able to do something, and for some reason, they always tell the trainers,” Palermo says. “I’ll say, ‘Go tell them! Tell them what you see!’” The trainers also document moments of triumph so they can be shared and celebrated. When Palermo thought Joanna Bonilla was ready to conquer her boxing challenge, he insisted on taking a video. He wanted to make sure Bonilla would be able to watch it later, show it to others, and see how tough she is. “I’m a person who doesn’t want to celebrate and hype it up,” Bonilla told me. “He videotaped it so I could understand what an accomplishment it was.”

DPI also invites friends and family to work out with members, something that can make a training session both more effective and more meaningful. The mere presence of a loved one can change how you perceive a physical challenge and what you able are able to do. One study found that if you are accompanied by a friend, a hill seems less steep than when you face it alone. In 2007, a medical journal documented the case of a sixty-five-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease who was unable to walk more than a few steps without losing his balance. He lived in a region of Northern Israel that was regularly hit with Katyusha and mortar rocket attacks, and when the warning sirens went off, he could not run to safety. During one attack, however, his wife was with him, and she grabbed his arm as he stood from his chair. In that moment, he found that he could not only walk but run. Neurologists

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