RE.CODE locomotion movement: how to rewrite your body's "software" and restore the natural intelligence of movement

Imagine you bring home the latest model of supercomputer. It has a blazing-fast processor, the fastest graphics card on the market and a design that takes your breath away. But the operating system running on it is twenty years old, riddled with viruses and constantly crashing. What do you do? Keep buying more expensive hardware, or finally update the software and rewrite the old, broken code?

With our bodies we do exactly the opposite. When back pain, a stiff neck or exhaustion start to trouble us, we try to "buy more hardware" – we swallow supplements, stick tape on our bodies, buy ergonomic chairs and expensive mattresses. Yet the problem lies much deeper. It lies in the very "software" our body uses to create movement. In our movement patterns.

At RehaGym we don't believe in quick fixes. We believe in RE.CODE – a complete restart and rewriting of your movement code through evidence-based locomotion exercise.

What are movement patterns, and why did your software get corrupted?

When you were a child, nobody taught you how to move. You didn't have a personal trainer to learn to crawl, stand up and start walking. Your body knew how by itself. It used so-called primary locomotion patterns – evolutionarily perfect programmes for movement, written deep in our DNA. A child squats with perfect balance and a straight spine because its body still speaks the pure, undistorted language of nature.

But then came school. Then the first job, hours spent in the car, endless meetings and stress. The average manager today sits for up to 10 hours a day.

And this is where a quiet catastrophe begins. The human body is a master of adaptation. Sit it on a chair for long hours and it says to itself: "Right, so this is our main activity now." And it starts to adapt.

• The muscles at the front of the thighs (the hip flexors) shorten and stiffen.
• The gluteal muscles, the body's biggest power generator, literally "fall asleep" (so-called gluteal amnesia).
• The deep stabilising system (the core) switches off, because the back of the chair takes over the support.

Then, after a whole week in the office, you head out on Saturday for tennis, golf or a run in the park, and your body isn't trying to move correctly. It is just trying to survive. It uses backup programmes. It engages the lower back instead of the glutes. It overloads the shoulders instead of the core. The result? Chronic pain, injuries and a feeling that your body is ageing faster than it should.

A story from practice: when a "mere" step is destroying your knees

Let's look at a concrete example. One of our clients came to RehaGym with a burning pain in his right knee every time he ran. He had seen several specialists, been given a brace and advised to stop running.

During our initial movement assessment on the postural measuring wall, however, we found that the knee was completely innocent. The real culprit was hiding in his left hip and in dysfunctional rotation patterns of the trunk. The client – a successful top manager – had lost the ability to rotate his thoracic spine while walking because of years of sitting. To keep a straight line, his body had to compensate for that rotation elsewhere – and it was the right knee that paid the price, turning slightly inwards with every step.

The client didn't need surgery or expensive injections. He needed active rehabilitation and locomotion exercises that taught him again how to connect the movement of the arms, the rotation of the chest and the push-off from the foot. Once we had corrected this basic movement pattern, the knee pain disappeared. For good. Because we didn't remove the symptom – we rewrote the code.

Why is locomotion exercise at RehaGym different?

Forget conventional fitness, where you sit on isolated machines and lift iron up and down. Gym machines were invented for bodybuilders who want to increase the size of a particular muscle. For a healthy life and peak managerial performance, however, they are of little use. In real life, no muscle ever works alone.

In RE.CODE locomotion exercise we train whole movement chains. Our tools are gravity, inertia, rotation and three-dimensional movement. We go back to the basics:

1. Correct walking and running technique: We teach your body to use kinetic energy again. You'll find that walking can be a recovery process rather than a source of fatigue.

2. Working with the fascial network: Fascia is the connective tissue that wraps around our muscles. Correct locomotion movement restores its elasticity, so it works like natural "springs" that put a lightness into every step.

3. Coordination and balance: We connect the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Movement stimulates neuroplasticity – the creation of new neural connections. By training your body in complex patterns, you sharpen your mind too.

The investment with the highest return

As successful leaders, you know very well what a strategic investment means. You diversify your portfolio, minimise risk and look for projects with the highest return.

Look at your body through the same lens. Locomotion exercise at RehaGym is not an expense for "exercise". It is the safest investment in your most important asset – your own health and longevity.

Smooth transfer of forces through the body means less energy spent on every movement. Less pain means a clearer head for hard decisions. And a well-tuned musculoskeletal system is the guarantee that in twenty years' time you will still be skiing, playing tennis or conquering mountain peaks with your children or grandchildren, without limitations.

Come to our centre in Prague – Krč and let us analyse your movement code. Together we'll rewrite it so that it works in your favour.