Every Body Is a Body That Works

“Bodywork for Bodies That Work.”

It's the phrase I use to describe what I do. But there's something important I want to make clear about it:

I'm not just talking about athletes.

I'm not just talking about people with physical jobs.

And I'm definitely not talking about some imaginary category of people who are “fit enough” or “active enough” to deserve bodywork.

I'm talking about you.

Because if you have a body, you have a body that works.

We tend to have a narrow idea of what “work” looks like

When we think about someone putting their body through work, certain images come to mind.

A landscaper digging all day. A construction worker carrying materials. A cyclist grinding up a long climb. A runner training for a race. Someone lifting weights at the gym.

Those bodies are obviously working.

But what about the parent carrying a tired four-year-old through a parking lot?

What about getting down on the floor to play and then realizing that getting back up isn't quite as effortless as it used to be?

What about carrying six grocery bags from the car because you're absolutely not making two trips?

That's work too.

So is vacuuming the house.

Walking the dog.

Standing at the kitchen counter making dinner.

Carrying laundry upstairs.

Shoveling snow.

Doing yard work.

Moving furniture.

Spending eight hours sitting at a desk.

Even being relatively still can ask a lot from your body when you do it for long enough.

Your body doesn't care whether you call it exercise

Your muscles, joints, and nervous system don't categorize movement the way we do.

They don't know that one activity was a “workout” while another was “just doing stuff around the house.”

They respond to load, repetition, position, effort, recovery, and time.

Carry a child on the same hip every day and your body adapts.

Spend hours leaning toward a computer screen and your body adapts.

Stand on concrete for an entire shift and your body adapts.

Spend Saturday pulling weeds and spreading mulch when you normally sit behind a desk all week and your body definitely notices.

That's one of the remarkable things about the human body: it gets better at dealing with what we regularly ask it to do.

But those adaptations can also leave certain areas tired, stiff, overloaded, or simply asking for some attention.

You don't have to earn bodywork

There's another idea I'd like to get away from: that massage and bodywork are something you need to justify.

You don't need to be an athlete.

You don't need to have a dramatic injury.

You don't need to be training for anything.

And you don't need to wait until something hurts badly enough that you finally decide it's worth addressing.

Maybe you want climbing stairs to feel easier.

Maybe you want to comfortably sit on the floor with your kids.

Maybe you'd like to turn your head while backing out of a parking space without your whole torso coming along for the ride.

Maybe you want to keep gardening.

Maybe you want to carry your own groceries when you're 80.

Or maybe you simply want your body to feel a little better while you go about your day.

Those are worthwhile goals.

“Working” looks different for everyone

One person's work might be riding a mountain bike for two hours.

Someone else's might be chasing a toddler around the house.

Another person's might be navigating a long day at a desk and then finding enough energy to cook dinner.

Bodies are different. Lives are different. The demands we place on ourselves are different.

That's why I don't think movement needs to be impressive to matter.

A body doesn't need to perform at a certain level before it's worth taking care of.

The goal isn't necessarily to turn everyone into an athlete.

It's to help your body keep doing the things that make up your life, and hopefully keep doing them comfortably for a very long time.

That's what I mean when I say:

Bodywork for Bodies That Work.

Because every body works.