The speaker, a former aspiring bodybuilder turned fashion model, talks about the importance of prioritizing the spine in fitness and movement. They discuss how the fitness industry focuses on individual muscles rather than the movement of the joints and skeleton, and how this can lead to back pain and other musculoskeletal issues. The speaker also talks about how children naturally move with good posture and full range of motion, but are often taught to sit and move in ways that are detrimental to their health. They advocate for a "movement first" approach to fitness, where the focus is on moving efficiently and naturally, rather than isolating individual muscles. The speaker concludes by leading the audience in a simple exercise to demonstrate the power of proper standing posture.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. The speaker was scouted to be a fashion model and had to give up on their bodybuilding dream.
2. The speaker was taught how to walk by a casting director for a Calvin Klein show.
3. The speaker noticed that the principles used in gymnastics classes are similar to the posture keys given in fashion shows.
4. Gymnasts focus on how they move their bodies and prioritize the spine.
5. Prioritizing the spine is a smarter approach because damaging the spinal cord can lead to loss of mobility.
6. Humans are born with a full range of motion.
7. Biochemist Esther Gokhale spent time researching places where back pain hardly exists and found that people's spines with a flatter lumbar curvature did not suffer from back pain.
8. Gokhale referred to this type of spine as a "J-shaped spine".
9. The J-shaped spine is what is seen in Greek statues and young children universally.
10. Young children are born with a J-shaped spine.
11. Children naturally drop into a perfect squat when picking things up from the ground.
12. As a consequence of human conditioning or culture, the natural resting position of squatting is taken away from children as they learn to sit in chairs.
13. According to the British Chiropractic Association, the total number of people off sick from work with back pain increased by 29% in a year due to sitting for long periods.
14. A study in 2012 found that musculoskeletal conditions were the second greatest cause of disability in the world, affecting over 1.7 billion people worldwide.
15. Professor Wolf, a world leader in healthcare, describes suffering from musculoskeletal disorders as being like a Ferrari without wheels.
16. The speaker believes that the fitness industry is ignorant of the importance of the spine.
17. The speaker advocates for a "movement first" philosophy, where people focus on movement rather than individual muscles.
18. The speaker demonstrates a standing posture exercise that engages the glute muscles by pushing the heels of the feet together.