I watched a fascinating video this past week about a "backwards" bike and I just can't stop thinking about it! So much so that I wanted to use the next few sentences to share this with you.

An engineer took a regular bike and had one simple, small change made that makes the bike 100% un-rideable. (You can see it in the picture if you look closely).

He had that steering mechanism changed so that when you turn right the bike goes left and when you turn left the bike goes right. That's all. Now, I know what you are thinking… (because I was thinking the same thing)… I bet I could do it! The fact is, it took the engineer 8 months of daily practice to be able to ride the backwards bike. 8 months!

This engineer would take this bike to presentations at various colleges around the US and Europe and offer people $500 cash if they could make it just 10 feet and NO one could! Crazy!

Our brains have developed an algorithm for riding a bike that we developed when we were young. Now to us riding a bike is "second nature" so much so that we have the adage "it's just like riding a bike" meaning you can't forget it.

To totally reverse that habit is much more difficult than we thought! The cool part is he made a small version for his 6 year old to see if he could it. It took the 6 year old just 2 weeks to master it.

So the lesson to be learned here is…

Knowledge does not equal understanding (re read that sentence)

People had the knowledge of how to ride the bike. Simply turn left when you want to go right. But, they didn't have the understanding because they just could not make their body do it. With their feet on the ground it was "simple" but with their feet on the pedals it was impossible.

When it comes to health, many people are experiencing this same phenomenon. We gain knowledge of how to be healthy (hopefully a lot has been gained from our office  but when it comes to putting it to practice we suddenly revert back to the old algorithm. It's a knee jerk response.

We have been engrained into a healthcare system and a symptomatic way of thinking from a young age and changing that is nothing short of down right difficult. It took the engineer 8 months with daily practice to master the backwards bike so don't be discouraged when you fall back into your old, unhealthy habits. Just keep pedaling! Like they say, practice makes perfect and the more you practice being healthy the more healthy you will be!

P.S. If you youtube "backwards bike" the video will pop right up and you can see for yourself.