In 2006 I made a huge shift at my gym. I sold the weight machines and began a workout that was exciting and challenging for everyone. The majority of my clients followed me into this new adventure and this gave me a unique perspective into the two different types of training. I did not just completely change my entire way of training, I did it with the same group of people. These folks had been my clients for seven or eight or even ten years prior to this change. Now, better than ten years into Frontier Movement, I can tell you the change has been profound.

As you move around this website I hope you can feel the excitement that we feel. Today I have a balanced practice with people of all ages participating in the fun, but when I made the big change, the majority of my clients were between 40 and 60. I was bored and they were bored. Many were showing the signs of age, with nagging hips, knees, necks and backs. I referred the ones with pain to yoga, pilates, gyrotonics, chiropractors and massage. While these modalities helped, and definitely have their place in my life and that of my clients, the majority of the individuals would re-aggravate the same spot every six months or year if they were active.

In our society, children learn quickly to “stay in their place.” Their “place” may be the “nerd,” the “jock,” the “fat kid,” the “funny kid,” the “good kid,” or “the dumb kid.” Of course, most parents want the “nice, healthy, happy, and smart kid,” yet find their child starring in only one or two of these positive life roles.

In 1981, I started a cycling program that included many young people. It was not possible to put even a tenth of them on my cycling team. Year after year, I would watch the kids riding and pick those with the most desire and, what I thought was, God-given talent. My then business, Out-Spokin’ Bicycles, was booming and I had little time for the other kids. Truthfully, I though a lot of them were rather “hopeless” and could never become good athletes. I was taught this by my coaches and society had re-enforced my belief. I WAS WRONG.

When I began youth classes in Frontier Movement work, I offered after school classes for 7 to 11 year olds and another class for teens. Immediately the kids fell into their “roles.” One tried to be funny, one tried to know everything before I finished explaining a movement, the overweight kid would give up without trying, and the jock would kick their butts! Often, chaos would rule the day as everyone stuck to their defined roles.

Here is a story often told. My grandmother had hip pain. She would complain about it occasionally and nobody thought too much about it. One day she fell and broke her hip. The hip wouldn’t heal very well and soon she had a walker, then a wheel chair. At least 30% of my clients who have witnessed the decline of their grandparents and parents tell a similar story. I see the beginnings of this in most new clients over the age of 45. The good news is changing the outcome of this story is within everyone’s grasp. The bad news is that this might be your story if you do not get moving!

The old adage “use it or lose it” comes to mind. When we start with 70- and 80-year-old clients who have been sedentary we often find they cannot raise their arms over their head without pain. We find simple motor skills in sharp decline. Very few, if any can, squat all the way down, butt to ground. Their spines are stiff and the forward stoop (kyphosis) is often well under way. They have pains in their backs, legs shoulders, neck—you name it! Occasionally we see many of theses same symptoms in sedentary 60-somethings as well.