From Rehab to Training for Longevity
"I don't remember it being this hard."
That's what Mike told me after helping his friend move apartments last weekend. A former college athlete now in his late thirties, Mike hadn't done anything particularly strenuous – just carried a few boxes and helped wrestle a couch around some tight corners.
Yet on Monday morning, his back was screaming. His shoulders felt like they were on fire. And a deep fear had settled in: "Is this just what getting older feels like?"
The short answer? No.
The longer, more accurate answer is that what Mike was experiencing wasn't about age at all. It was about a slow, nearly invisible process that happens to almost all of us – a gradual drift away from the varied, challenging movement that our bodies are designed for.
"Aging" vs. "Deconditioning"
What Mike was experiencing—and what many of us mistake for "getting older"—is actually deconditioning. Aging is inevitable. Deconditioning is optional—and reversible. It's not about the passage of time; it's about how we've spent that time.
The Slow Drift Away from Movement
Think back to when you were a kid. Movement wasn't exercise – it was just what you did. You ran, jumped, climbed, and played without a second thought. Your body moved in countless different ways throughout the day, often at high speeds and with significant force.
Fast forward to now.
For most of us, we don't stop moving because we're injured or suddenly incapable – we stop because life gets busy:
Work demands more hours.
Family takes priority.
That pickup game gets replaced with a meeting.
The weekend hike gives way to errands.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, we stop playing. We stop sprinting. We stop jumping. We stop moving with intensity and variability.
It's like a ship drifting off course—no single decision takes you far off track, but over years, the destination becomes entirely different than where you intended to go.
And our bodies notice.
What Happens When We Stop Moving Like We Used To
This drift from varied, intense movement sets off a cascade of changes in our bodies:
Our muscles get weaker(atrophy) – not because of age, but because of disuse. The "use it or lose it" principle is remarkably accurate when it comes to our muscles.
Movement patterns become rigid and predictable. We lose variability – a key component of motor health and injury resistance.
Perhaps most critically, we lose velocity – our ability to generate force quickly. This isn't just about athletic performance; it's a trait closely tied to fall risk and independence later in life.
These changes happen so gradually that we rarely notice them – until that one moment when we do.
You might be drifting if:
You haven't sprinted, jumped, or played in years
You avoid certain movements out of fear or habit
Your workouts feel "safe" but never challenging
You get sore for days after occasional bursts of activity
You automatically say "I can't do that anymore" when invited to try physical activities
The First Sign: That One Time You Moved
and Felt It
Maybe, like Mike, you helped a friend move.
Or you tried sprinting after your dog when he slipped out of his leash.
Or you played a game of pickup basketball after a decade-long hiatus.
The result? At best, soreness that takes days to resolve. At worst, a strained muscle or a more significant injury.
The reality is that your body wasn't broken; it was simply unprepared for a demand you hadn't prepared it for. Like trying to run a marathon without training, you asked your body to perform in ways it hadn't practiced in years.
And this is where your movement journey can branch into three very different paths.
The Three Roads Forward
When this moment of pain or injury arrives, you essentially have three options:
Option 1: Fear and Avoidance
This is the path many people take, often without realizing it. You associate movement with pain and begin avoiding anything that might trigger discomfort. You stop playing tennis because your shoulder hurt last time. You avoid hiking because your knees felt it for days after.
This becomes a devastating cycle:
Disuse → Weakness → Pain → Further Avoidance → Disability
Each step of avoidance makes the next movement attempt even more likely to cause pain, reinforcing the cycle. Eventually, this path leads to significant limitations in daily life – not because your body is incapable, but because it's been trained to avoid challenge.
"The things you avoid become the limitations that define you."
Option 2: Push Through and Repeat the Boom-Bust Cycle
This is the road many recreational athletes take. You're determined not to let pain stop you, so you work through it. Often, the pain does improve as you warm up and move more.
So you keep going. It gets better... then you ramp it up too fast because you're feeling good. Suddenly you're back to your old intensity, your old training volume.
And then – predictably – you get hurt again.
This boom-bust cycle is frustratingly common. Many weekend warriors spend years bouncing between periods of activity and periods of recovery, never building a sustainable approach.
Option 3: Strategic Movement – The Path to Longevity
The third option – the one I most strongly advocate for – requires a different mindset. Instead of fear or stubbornness, it starts with curiosity.
You begin by getting curious about your movement:
Which movements feel good right now?
Which feel uncomfortable but doable?
Which feel truly painful or impossible?
From there, you build a plan:
Increase the "feels good" movements – these build confidence and keep you moving while you heal.
Gradually expand the "uncomfortable but tolerable" zone through consistent exposure and progressive overload.
Turn "painful" movements into "tolerable" ones with thoughtful regressions, tempo adjustments, and appropriate loading.
This approach treats rehab not as something separate from training – but as strength training in the presence of injury constraints.
What About Pain?
Before we go further, let's address the elephant in the room: pain. When movement hurts, it's natural to assume something is damaged or broken. But pain science has evolved dramatically in recent years, and we now understand that pain is more complex than that.
Pain doesn't always indicate damage—often, especially with chronic or recurring pain, it signals sensitivity rather than injury. This is particularly true in undertrained tissues that haven't been exposed to varied movements or loads in a long time.
Think of pain as information, not a stop sign. It's your body communicating with you, asking for a plan rather than demanding you quit. With the strategic approach, we use pain as a guide to build our roadmap, not as a reason to abandon the journey entirely.
The Motor Control – Strength – Velocity Progression
When we take this strategic approach, we naturally follow a progression that builds toward sustainable, lifelong movement capacity:
First, we focus on Motor Control – the ability to perform movements with precision and awareness. This means mastering the basics before adding intensity. For someone with knee pain, this might look like making sure their squat isn’t shaky before adding load.
Next, we build Strength – the capacity to produce force against resistance. As motor control improves, we systematically add appropriate challenges. That same person might progress from bodyweight squats to goblet squats, then to front squats with increasing loads.
Finally, we reintroduce Velocity – the ability to generate force quickly. This is often the missing element in both rehab and general fitness programs, yet it's crucial for real-world function and injury prevention. Our knee pain example might progress to include controlled jump squats or reactive stepping exercises.
Velocity is what lets you catch yourself before a fall—it's not just for athletes, it's for life.
This isn't just a progression for recovery – it's the foundation of training for longevity.
The Long Game: Training for Life
When we follow this path of strategic movement, we're doing something much more significant than just "getting over" an injury. We're building a resilient body that can move freely, powerfully, and with confidence at any age.
The goal isn't to "get back to normal" – it's to create a new normal that's more robust than before.
I've seen this transformation countless times in my practice. People who come in thinking they need to accept limitations leave realizing they can build capacity instead. The runner who thought her days of long runs were over discovers that with the right approach, she can build back stronger than before. The grandfather who feared he couldn't play with his grandkids finds himself on the floor with them, moving with his back acting up..
By Improving motor control, building strength, and reintroducing velocity, we aren't just recovering – we're setting the stage for a high-functioning, active future.
Your Next Step
Take a moment to assess your own movement journey. Where have you drifted away from varied, challenging movement? Where might you be stuck in either avoidance or the boom-bust cycle?
Consider which movements you've abandoned that might be worth reclaiming with a strategic approach.
Remember, the goal isn't to move like you did at 20 – it's to move better than you did a year ago or 5 years ago, so you can still move well at 65, 75, and beyond.
If you've been stuck in pain or limited by movement restrictions, we can help you build a personalized plan to help you return to your favorite activites. Click here to schedule a complimentary consultation.