I met Avani in 2019 in Munich. She came to me because she was underweight and wanted to put on some weight and get healthier. She weighed 40 kg when I first saw her. Other reasons to start the collaboration with me were building her physical strength, her mental strength, fixing her forward neck posture and shoulder pain caused by her daily sitting job as a software engineer and simply help her get healthier. In her case we went for the body optimization program.
The initial phase
When Avani and I started working together she was a total beginner. She had never done sports a day in her life. Words like squats and push-ups were completely new to her. For the body optimization program, just like for all of my programs, we start with testing. This means we started by doing the body check-up and fitness tests. In this first session, I identified all the problems like postural issues, muscles imbalances and determine body fat percentage. After that I tested her strength levels in certain basic compound movements and I observed any deviations in her biomechanic patterns.
We also executed together mobility, balance and coordination tests and I checked her heart and lungs health and her physical endurance. All these tests helped me create an individualized training and nutrition program that is tailored her needs. I always go one step further and try to adapt the plan to my client’s lifestyle if possible to make sure that the client will stay motivated for a longer period.
After we got the initial testing and planning out of the way we were ready to start the journey. We started by working on her postural problems. She even received homework that she had to do on a weekly basis. I thought her lots of things about ideal ergonomics for working at a computer and slowly but surely, her posture started improving. It’s still amazing to me to see so many people sitting each day on a chair for hours, yet the majoity of them have no idea about how to sit properly.
Un my opinion, this is a discipline that should be included in the school’s curriculum considering how many people are spending now haft of their life in a sitting position.
Nutrition and physical strength are next
In the next step of the body optimization program we introduced a nutrition program to help her gain weight. We did this by taking into account her food preferences and favourite foods and building a nutrition program. She started gaining some weight in no time. She started at 40 kg, but in about 3 months she was weighing 45 kg.
After that, we started to focus our work on building her physical strength. The goal was to get her strong by introducing basic strengthening exercises. When I met her she had told me about an event that happened to her once on the train.
She was travelling and she wanted to store her luggage up but she lacked the physical strength to do it.She decided to ask a guy from the train to help her and he refused. I felt sad when I heard this. My goal for her was to make her so strong one day that she doesn’t depend on anyone to help her with her luggage. I wanted her to be in a strong position and to be able to do it herself.
So, we started on that journey of making her strong and making sure that she would never end up in such a situation again.
I use the body optimization program and fitness not just to change people’s bodies but their minds as well.
Time went by and her posture improved. Soon the pain was gone, her strength levels went up and she gained about 5 kg in no time.
She took a break from our sessions simply due to unavoidable reasons after the corona crisis. We are both hoping to be able to work together soon again and continue to build her power and strength.
Common postural problems for office workers
What I found very interesting about her case was the postural problem.
Her case is so common that I could even dare to say that this is going to become the health problem number one by 2050. The more rapidly our technologies advance the more we are required to work all day at a computer. And there is a problem with that…
Our bodies were not created to do that. We live in a world where almost all jobs that used to involve physical labour have now been replaced by machines. We now do not need to move anymore. But just because something isn’t needed anymore does not mean it’s useless. I really believe that this is just the beginning.
Engineers are especially at risk to develop these problems because they are required to sit down for long hours each day and this is very unnatural to the human body. So, working with a specialist and preventing such problems is a must in my opinion if you want to live healthy as long as possible.
If you neglect this for too long, you might even be faced soon with the inability to work. We start to get headaches and the head starts to feel heavy. This is because of spine instability that develops since our back muscles get weaker and weaker. Unfortunately, I even met some clients who get so bad that they are forced to give up their jobs altogether because of this.
That is why I can’t stress this enough how important stability and posture training are for the regular person with a sitting job.
Most of my clients with bad postural problems are engineers, so that should tell you something already.
Thank you, dear Avani, for trusting me.
You’re a great woman and I hope we will continue soon.
Bellow, you can read her review for our work in her own words.
In the end, I’d like to tell you about the gift that Avani got for me on our last session. She gave me a necklace with a hand as a symbol of a “helping hand” as she called it.
It was the greatest moment in my entire career so far. I am so humbled by the fact that so many people trust me and see me as they do. I hope I can continue to be that helping hand that so many people saw in me.
You will never know how much that necklace really means to me.
Thank you, my dear, for everything and I hope to see you soon.
