Guest Post: Garden of Eden Training

I invited my friend Cory Cripe to post on his new business here in the La Crosse area.  I think it's a very intriguing idea, in fact seems quite Chestertonian.  

Is there a way for a faithful, practicing Catholic to become physically fit without the ridiculous amounts of soreness, feeling the need to indulge in vanity with all the mirrors, or losing one’s soul participating in some type of Eastern Transcendental Meditation while moving through various poses? Yes. How? Fitness Lying Down. Huh?

Now God didn’t just give us a mind and soul, there is a body included, too. Remember? We bring our hearts, minds, and souls when we encounter the supernatural, but we really fail to worship God with our bodies, as well. When you genuflect – how’s getting back up? When you kneel – are you tall or do you find yourselves hunched over to offer relief for your low back? When standing – do you grab onto the pew in front of you for rest, are you moving side to side, or are you standing tall and attentive? Throw a young child into the mix and now it’s a whole new game! If you’re finding it difficult to participate in the Mass with the physical, along with the spiritual, you may want to continue reading.

You have heard it said that pride is the root of all evil. We are a sinful people (through pride) and the surest way to be reconciled to the Father is through his Son by means of the sacrament of Confession. At Fitness Lying Down we like to think that chair-sitting for prolonged periods of time is the root of all physical evil (stay with me) and the only way to be reconciled here is to get back before The Fall to the In The Beginning...On the sixth day God took mud from the Earth and created the first human, Adam. Interesting enough, the word human has its origin from the Latin word, humus, meaning “of the earth/ground.” Its where we get humble, exhume, etc. In order to correct our physical issues we need to be reconciled with, and return to, where it all began for us: the ground; Fitness Lying Down.

It’s not only in our nature, but the created plan, that we be of the ground; look where you have to start learning to move after being born. You don’t just fly out of the womb and onto a bench press and start repping out! Now think about your own relationship with the ground. Do you like the idea of sitting/lying on the ground? Why or why not? Is getting up off of the ground easy for you? If you answered ‘No’ for either question, ask yourself now, ‘Do I move well?’ I’m sure that the answer still is ‘No,’ and there is the problem! We have gotten so far away from the original plan for our bodies, not only to move – but to move well, that we need to reclaim our nature as God has designed and become better movers by getting our Fitness Lying Down!

Our bodies’ return to communion with the ground can be synonymous with what happens to our souls after confession.

Do you remember in Genesis when God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful, multiply, build big biceps, and ripped abs? Me either. Fruitful, though - how can exercise be fruitful in our modern times? For the majority of us, increasing the size (or definition) of our arms, “toning” our abs, or getting so many minutes of our machine-based cardio does not offer much fruit for the practicality of our lives. We don’t necessarily need to exercise better (we’ve been trying that over the last four decades and look where it has gotten us today), we need to start moving better. In my opinion, that is exactly what God wants from us, efficient movement, not better exercises, to improve our physical fitness levels.

With Fitness Lying Down, it all starts with The Functional Movement Screen. This simple, yet effective, screening tool let’s us know if any of your movement patterns are painful, functional, or dysfunctional. Given the day and age we live in and how our lifestyles tend not to promote quality movement, we find that many individuals suffer from multiple dysfunctional movement patterns. With the valuable information from the screen, we are able to design programs for our clients that will not enforce poor movement habits as we are able to start correcting dysfunctional movement patterns. When this correction begins, you don’t just start to move better – you begin to feel better, as well! You can read more about The Functional Movement Screen HERE and HERE.

And why does prayer have to be relegated to only those times you fold your hands and converse with God? Remember, we are Catholic – “offer it up!” Often times people see me pray and mistake me for exercising; I choose to pray with my heart, mind, soul, and body. We are temples of the Holy Spirit and are called to glorify God with our bodies! No better way than to begin construction and reinforce that temple, your body. It is only wise, however, to get that foundation set straight first and that’s what we do – we specialize in base building before we worry about the overall structure. Before you enter into exercise, don’t just consult your physician – have an encounter with your Divine Physician and do as He has designed you to!

Cory M. Cripe received his B.S. in Exercise and Sport Science, with an Emphasis in Fitness, and a concentration in Strength and Conditioning from The University of Wisconsin – La Crosse in 2001. He has been very active in the fitness field for the last 14 years and now starting Fitness Lying Down with his business partner, Anthony Dix, to offer a more movement-friendly training approach for La Crosse, WI.

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Fitness Lying Down
1501 Saint Andrew Street
Suite B202
La Crosse, WI 54603