WEBVTT

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Thank you.

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So, the other day, I was giving a talk
to a bunch of young models

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on having a career
in the fashion industry.

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And, I really wanted to tell them
about my upcoming TED talk.

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So I go, "Hey guys,
has anyone here heard of TED?"

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And in typical model fashion,
this is the reply I get:

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"Yeah, I've seen them both,
and their teddy bear's hilarious."

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(Laughter)

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Like, what?!

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The youth of today,
it made me laugh so much.

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I mean, I can't really say much.

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When I was 15, I wanted
to be a bodybuilder.

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Not just any bodybuilder though,
the number one: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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I actually remember day one
on my attempt to get a body like this guy.

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There was this local
old school gym in East London,

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and it looked like something
you might see in a "Rocky" movie.

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It was this converted garage space
with ripped black benches,

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rusting bar bells,

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and these posters of ex-bodybuilding
champions on the wall,

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including Schwarzenegger himself
as a goal to aspire to.

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Now, the day I walked in there,
I met the owner,

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this proper Cockney guy called Dave.

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I described to him my health and fitness
goals in great, lengthy detail,

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you know, just like
an adolescent kid does:

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"I want to get massive."

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(Laughter)

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But he nodded, you know,
he really understood what I wanted.

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He pointed to the squat rack,


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and he says,

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"That over there, son,
[that's how] you get big legs.

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And that over there,
pull into the bench press.

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that's how you get a big chest.

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And these dumb bells
- here - for big arms.

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And that's about it.

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Now off you go, son."

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So off I did go, dad.

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I mean, it was a pretty
simple concept, really.

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If you can get from A to B
in eight repetitions,

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you just add more weight.

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Now, at this time in my life,
I hadn't yet studied sports science,

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so little did I know,
but this A to B method I was using,

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we refer to as "overload."

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Now, the overload theory works like this:

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If I push my body to failure,

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meaning I no longer have the capability
to do any more repetitions,

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then when I'm resting, my body
simply produces more muscle,

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and that allows me to lift more next time.

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I can then work around the body
using this method on each muscle group,

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and, Hey, presto, (Arnold voice)
one day you have body like Arnie.

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Well, I obviously do not have
a body like Arnie. (Laughs)

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In fact, I have a body
like a fashion model.

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That's because
I was scouted in the street

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and was forced to give up
on my bodybuilding dream.

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This is one of my first shows.

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This is me strutting down
the catwalk for Calvin Klein.

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The casting director - thank you -
was back stage before the show

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teaching us how to walk
in a strong posture.

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Feet straight, belly button in,
shoulders back and down.

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But why in my early 20s
was I being taught how to walk?

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More importantly, why did walking
this way feel so alien?

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But yet, on the outside, to the audience,
it looked quite powerful.

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I mean, all they were asking me to do
was walk like I was supposed to walk.

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So I decided to go to a place
where just being in strong posture

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was common practice.

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And I was about to meet
the person face to face

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that would destroy my aspiration
of Schwarzenegger forever.

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I was attempting an exercise
called a "bridge":

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an adult gymnastics class.

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And I just couldn't get my arms straight,

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let alone my body off the ground.

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So the coach calls somebody over

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who demonstrates
this movement effortlessly.

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She was a six-year-old girl.

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This is actually her.

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Her name is Grace.

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Amazing...

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Grace.

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(Laughs)

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(Laughter)

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How sweet.

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(Laughter)

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But what I really began to see

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is the principles being used
in gymnastics class

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were identical to the posture cues
I'd been given back stage

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during Fashion Week.

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It's the language of gymnastics
that's not based on individual muscles

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but based on movements
of the joints and the skeleton.

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For example, they use shoulder
instead of biceps, triceps;

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hips instead of quads, hamstrings.

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Completely the opposite to what
the fitness industry prioritizes.

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Fitness talks muscles before spine.

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You see, gymnasts focus
on how they are moving their body.

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And they also just happen
to have awesome posture

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and a really strong core.

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It's really no coincidence.

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This is a byproduct
of working with the body.

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In fact, prioritization of the spine
is a much smarter approach.

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If you happen to damage your spinal cord,

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you can actually lose the ability
to move any part of your body.

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And this is something
we've been reminded of our whole lives.

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"Stop slouching."

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"Sit up straight."

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"Engage your core!"

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"Get your elbows off the table."

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They all mean the same thing.

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All your parents were saying was:

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prioritize your spine.

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You see, the thing is, as humans,
we were born with full range of motion.

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Biochemist Esther Gokhale
spent time traveling the world

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and researched places
where back pain hardly exists.

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What she noticed was people's spines
with a flatter lumbar curvature

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didn't suffer from back pain.

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She referred to this as a J-shaped spine,

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and you can see the difference
in the images here

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between the S-shaped spine
taught in the Western world

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and the J-shaped spine in people
where back pain doesn't exist.

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Gokhale states the J-shaped spine
is what you see in Greek statues

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and in young children universally.

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What she's saying is,
we're all born with a J-shaped spine.

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Now, you may have noticed,

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when young children
pick things up from the ground,

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they drop down into this perfect squat.

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This kid, unlike myself,
did not need a casting director,

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nor a six-year-old amazing Grace
to teach him this move.

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In fact, nobody taught him.

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And no, guys, he's not exercising.

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This is, in fact, a pre-chair,
resting human position.

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But unfortunately, as a consequence
of our current human conditioning,

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or our culture,

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this natural resting position
is about to be taken away from this child.

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He's about to be taught
a resting position is, in fact, a chair.

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And when he's due to start school,

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seven hours of his day, every day,

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he will be asked to sit
in this - quite frankly weird

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and unhuman - position.

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Now, I didn't even take into account
the amount of hours

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this kid spends watching Peppa Pig.

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(Laughter)

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According to the British
Chiropractic Association,

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the total number of people
off sick from work with back pain

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increased last year by 29 percent.

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From the survey, the reason for back pain
was sitting too long in one position.

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So I tried to find a survey totaling
the number of four-year-olds

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off sick from school with back pain.

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But would you believe it,
I just couldn't find one.

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You see, we are more than well aware.

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We are a generation
of sitting-on-our-backside human beings.

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But, the specific point I would like
to bring to your attention today

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is the fitness industry's
ignorance of the spine,

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to have us hooked on task completion.

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Time, weight, and distance.

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This is, for most people,
measures of improvement and progress.

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How long can you run for?

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How fast can you run?

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How much can you lift?

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How many repetitions can you do?

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How many calories can you burn?

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This list is endless.

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But they're flawed.

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None of these take into account
how you're moving,

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or more importantly, how you once could.

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You see, nothing can ever compare,
or will measure up against,

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the exquisite movement
you had as a three-year-old.

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A study in 2012 found
that musculoskeletal conditions

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were the second greatest
cause of disability in the world,

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affecting over 1.7 billion
people worldwide.

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Professor Wolfe,
a world leader in healthcare,

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describes suffering
from musculoskeletal disorders

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as being like a Ferrari without wheels.

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If you don't have mobility and dexterity,

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it doesn't matter how healthy
the rest of your body is.

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So surely the access
to a healthy physicality

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is working back towards
full range of motion,

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to understand how your body moves,

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and to be able to function like a human.

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Said simply, the ability to move
like you once could

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when you were a three year old.

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We can and should
start re-learning how to move

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from the examples of children,

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ditching these current measures
of time, weight, and distance,

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and spend time unravelling restrictions,

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getting back the movement
we actually once had.

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All that's left
is an aspiration of ourselves

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in the school playground as a child,

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able to play and move

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without fear of injury
and using our body's full potential.

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And those other results we're aiming for

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such as: slimmer physique,

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toned muscles,

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do come,

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but as a byproduct of moving the body
as it's designed to function best.

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There's a famous Chinese proverb:

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"You are as old as your spine."

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In all honesty, I'll have more chance
teaching penguins how to fly

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than humans a better way
to sit on a chair.

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We're just not designed to do it.

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Today, I'm going to leave you
with a powerful standing posture.

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In cultures where
the J-shaped spine exists,

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people's butt muscles engage
every time they take a step.

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It's one reason they have
these strong butt muscles

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that support their lower back.

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To demonstrate how
this standing posture works,

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I will need a bit
of audience participation.

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So I need you all to be standing.

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Sorry.

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Please stand with your feet together

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and facing forwards.

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Now push the heels of the feet
against each other -

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not the toes but the heels.

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Keep pushing.

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Keep pushing.

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Now hold.

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Hold this tension.

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Squeeze.

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I want you to just notice,

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just notice,

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what happened to the glute muscles

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as a consequence
of pushing the heels together.

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We didn't focus on these muscles,

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we focused on a movement.

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This is movement-first philosophy,
which I spoke of earlier.

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Focus on a movement;
muscles follow suit.

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We move efficiently.

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The body recruits
the right muscles for the job.

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Standing here with your heels
pushed together

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is now your new stance.

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Actually, if I can get you guys
to hold this while I finish

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you might just have
to give me a standing ovation.

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(Laughter)

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By taking a lesson from my kid self.

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It took me two years at the age of 30
to finally get back my resting position.

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No, no.

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My resting position. (Laughs)

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Maybe we should all take a lesson
from our kid selves.

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We should stop teaching kids
how to sit on their ass,

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we should lead by example,

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and move like them.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)