Looking Back for a Functional Future

  

Typcial gyms of old (http://www.miamikettlebell.com/)

Exercise of Old
Back in the old days, typical gyms did not have fancy gadgets & machines where all we had to do was sit down and follow the little drawing on the equipment. Gyms used to have a lot of open floor space, with bars, boxes, kettlebells, and rings. Back then people didn’t even go to the gym to necessarily ‘workout’ and burn calories…they went to literally learn and practice how the body moves...and the workout was an indirect outcome! Interestingly enough our society suffered far less musculoskeletal injuries as a result. Fast forward to today when 1 out of every 3 adults are considered obese; we stopped moving in our jobs, and we successfully created machines to basically stop moving during our workouts as well. While working out on machines does exercise our left-ventricle, and increase blood pressure, possibly causing sweat and the perception of a workout, the question needs to be asked…what is it really doing for everyday function?

Workout Economics
A common excuse for not exercising is that it takes too much time. Can you remember the last time you heard someone say “I have plenty of time”? We are all so good at packing in everything we possibly can into our day that we literally don’t have time to stop and smell the roses. Since we are so limited in our schedules, wouldn’t it be great to create a workout that takes half as long to complete, but would still provide all of the same benefits and sacrifice nothing in performance and function? Instead of exercising in a gym for hours and hours, it would give us the freedom to do more of the things we enjoy doing like active hobbies, spending time with friends/family, working on that honey-do list…okay maybe that last one is a stretch. The point is, we should be thinking about our workouts and the exercises we choose and consider what can be trimmed.

The 80-20 Rule
Exercise can sometimes be like Econ 101, where most of the benefits experienced (80%) comes from a few select exercises (20%). If you were told you could only choose one resistance exercise to perform for the rest of your life… what would your answer be? Now the wheels start turning! Hmm… “but there are so many I like to do”, you might be thinking. One exercise….that’s it. What’s it going to be? This kind of activity makes us realize exactly what benefits each exercise provides. There is no absolute correct answer; it just depends on the person. Some people might choose the Deadlift, or some version of a Squat to Press, or an Olympic-lifter might choose a Barbell Clean or Snatch, others might choose the good ol’ fashion body-weight Pushup or Pull-up. I would choose a Turkish Get Up.  All of these exercises incorporate the entire body in many different ways.  If you were to make a list of all the possible candidates for your one exercise you could perform, you might have a hard time picking a winner. Now let’s say you are allowed to perform two exercises…this might change the game a bit. What if you were allowed three exercises?

                               

The Complete Workout

To make this as simple as possible, here are the general rules you need to follow to make sure you are getting a complete workout, and since I do not want to force you to choose only one exercise, here are three: (1) Push something (2) Pull something {both 1 & 2 should be performed in a position that engages your core} and finally (3) do something multi-joint for your legs. There you have it…a completely efficient, full-body workout in very little time. By first qualifying the exercises deserving to be on our initial list, we can focus our workout on the 20% that gives us 80% return on investment.

Focus on Your Weakness
If three exercises are still not enough and you need more in your routine, then focus the rest of your training on turning weaknesses into strengths. One of the best ways I help pinpoint weaknesses in all my clients is to have them perform the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). It is not my intention to turn clients into gym-rats; I want to make their time efficient and productive at the same time. Findings from the FMS help me learn exactly where to focus each client’s training program based on their scores of how well they move within their own body. So if you are still unsure where to start, get screened and see what limitations you find because you are only as strong as your weakest link.