Improving The Way We Move

A lot of new training programs such as P90X (www.beachbody.com) and Crossfit (http://www.crossfit.com) are based upon conditioning the body to work as a more efficient machine. As a person in the exercise and rehab field I love to see these types of workouts. They are light on the usage of weights and focused on teaching you how to move your own weight better. Functionality is a very important aspect of the exercise. Getting out of bed, walking up the stairs, lifting a suitcase are common activities in daily life. These require that we not only be able to support our own weight i.e. standing, but also balancing ourselves as we move dynamically. For this end, it is always important to incorporate a lot closed kinetic chain activities into your exercise routine.

Research has shown that closed kinetic chain exercises or weight bearing activities offer a functional and safe approach to exercise, rehab, and the prevention of chronic disorders such as arthritis and osteoporosis. ACSM defines as an exercise that requires the use of an adjacent joint. Other sources define it as a movement in which the hand or the foot is on constant contact with a stable surface. A bicep curl, for example, only requires elbow rotation. A squat, a push-up, a pull-up, a dip, can be considered a closed chain movement. The advantage to using these forms of exercise is that use a variety of muscle groups simultaneously, helping the muscular as well as the cardiovascular system work stringer for longer.

If you want to be have big, bulging, bodybuilder type muscles, it will require lifting heavy weights. Weight much more than your own body weight at times. This look is naturally unsustainable and requires that you always lift heavy. Your body is not designed to regularly take some of these heavy weight stresses. More often than not, you’ll end up with shoulder, knee, and back pain that will haunt you the rest of your life. In real life situations, it is rare that you will ever be asked to life more than yourself. Although bench pressing 250+ lbs. is a terrific feat of upper body strength if you are 180 lbs., the stress that you are putting on your joints runs the unnecessary risk of permanent injury. Long-term, you’ll likely develop arthritis in the shoulders and knees, and chronic and possibly crippling back pain.

The most logical way to train your muscles, bones, and rest of your body is to teach it to deal with the stresses that it will regularly face. Activities such as playing sports, facing a long flight of stairs, carrying the groceries or moving furniture. Anything more than that is overkill. Focus on a solid and muscular physique, without necessarily having huge bulges popping out of the body. You will still feel and look terrific. As a matter of fact, the wannabe body builder look really doesn’t look to appealing very often.