Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it. ~ Plato
Despite our protestations, and quite rightly so, against the confined animal feed operations that a growing majority of our animals used for food are kept in, we don’t see that we too are being gradually turned into confined humans.
I have shown previously how our body through evolution is superbly adapted to perform enormous feats of physical activity, and is the only animal capable of true upright posture and bipedal movement.(1,2) It is these features that shaped our evolutionary development and contributed massively to our success as a species. To maintain this amazing inherited structure requires similar stimulation today.
Yet, we are led by culture to oppose our superb design through increasingly sedentary work and leisure activities. In England only 24% of adult men and 10% of adult women perform at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day.(3) To give you a frame of reference MVPA is regarded as any activity over 3.0 MET’s (Metabolic equivalents) – regular walking is 3.3 MET’s; 76% of men and 90% of women aren’t even achieving that level of activity.
If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health. ~ Hippocrates
We are designed to be in almost constant movement – even when sleeping our body is instructed by the brain to make micro-movements to maintain stress on the structure. Remember the adage ‘use it or lose it’ – any time you fail to stimulate a function or structure in the body, it will attempt to reduce the need to maintain that function or structure as it’s inefficient and costly to maintain an unused system – Nature is ‘the’ master economist.
That’s why regular activity is so vital and far more effective than less regular exercise, even if the less regular exercise exceeds the total work done on a more regular basis. Exercise is good for the body for exactly the opposite reason that most people think – it’s actually a stressful challenge. Not enough stress, the body falls into dysfunction by disuse. Too much, is overwhelming, and the body becomes dysfunctional this time from too much stress. But just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, get the stress just right, what is known as a hormetic level of stress or eustress, and the body responds by growing in resilience. This is how many of the things that are ‘good’ for you work; because they are actually a little bit ‘bad’ – they challenge the body just enough to keep it on its toes and in prime condition.
Many of those who do recognise and attempt to rectify the imbalance by exercising are unfortunately lulled by market forces and ignorant exercise information to perform activity that not only doesn’t address the needs of the human body, but in many cases actually causes further distortion to the already compromised structure.
The machines found in many gyms are not designed for human movement – they fix the movement pattern into an unnatural and usually single plane of motion; not the way movement occurs in life. In the gym these machines are very safe as the simple, machine guided movement doesn’t leave much room for error, but take that body outside of the gym into any real life situation and the transfer of strength doesn’t really occur – in fact it’s actually a liability, due to the increased strength of individual muscles but lack of control and coordination.
Gyms bought into the machine based paradigm for many reasons; one being that it doesn’t require much technical coaching, unlike skilled free movements such as the Power- and Olympic lifts. Therefore gym operators could and still do get away with hiring minimal staff both in terms of time and expertise.
Times are changing, and more gyms have begun to pop up, especially in the last decade that are, at least on the surface based on the right premise of free-movement exercise. Unfortunately the level of expertise expected on certifications that were previously based on the machine dominant paradigm has in many cases simply been transferred wholesale into certifications that use free-movement exercise.
This is not a good mix, as is evidenced by the minimal supervision and movement displayed in many bootcamp and group-based exercise classes. The kettlebell swing for instance, which is a great integrated movement built around a hip hinge when done correctly, is disastrous when not coached or performed optimally. Instead of a hip hinge, what is usually done is a fairly isolated lumbar spine extension followed by a terminal knee extension and overly dominant shoulder flexion with an internally rotated humerus – which is a great exercise if you’re after a herniated lumbar spine and shoulder impingement.
Part of the reason is ignorant or inadequate coaching, and another is that you’re taking a population that is habitually in a crouched position, mainly from sitting at work, during transport and when at home, that have shortened hip flexors, hamstrings, weak abdominal and back muscles, a compressed lumbar spine and is in kyphosis, and then asking them to perform a movement that requires that none of these distortions are present.
By asking the body to achieve a movement with these locked in structures, it has to compensate for the lack of movement in one area that is designed for the movement by asking another that isn’t – when your hips and thoracic spine are locked up, the lumbar spine usually compensates, a job it’s not designed to do. The hips and to a lesser extent the thoracic spine are designed for movement, the lumbar spine is designed for stability, by reversing the roles you’re asking for trouble.
Effective exercise has to be composed of movements that follow the design of the human body both anatomically and physiologically – which is mostly standing, free-motion, integrated movement. It must also address the distortions imposed by our culture and must be done daily to continually oppose the rot.
The second point is beyond the scope of this piece, but you can get an idea of what I personally do with clients from previous articles.(4-6) The first and last point are easier to address – to perform the free movement that is congruent with the human form you need to use your own body, free weights (dumbbells and barbells), cables, and/ or bands. For athletes that I work with, the cables and free weights (for the Power- and Olympic lifts and variations of both) form a large part of our training, which in most cases requires the use of an appropriately equipped gym. But for the majority of people this isn’t necessary nor even desirable.
To maintain fitness for life you need to regularly include exercise as part of your daily routine – going to a gym, although superb for certain populations, is quite an ask in modern life. By the time you’ve driven to gym, found a parking spot, changed, performed your workout, showered, gotten re-changed and then driven either home or to your place of business can take up to 2 hours – as a daily excursion, that’s not really doable for most people with a family and business. There is a better way.
The irregular slogs at the gym do not really have any effect on the body, they may appease the conscience, but in physiological terms they’re fairly ineffective. Far better to do a little every day, especially in the morning after rising – fifteen minutes (an hour and a half total for the whole entire week) is all that is needed.
A great system that addresses the needs of the body are a good set of resistance bands – when I say set, I didn’t mean pair. Your body adapts to exercise by growing in resilience, so to continue to challenge the body correctly in terms of physiology, you need to be able to progressively overload – this is key. Investing in a good set of bands costs less than a month’s membership at many gyms and will last, if kept in good condition, years, if not decades. I personally have owned my set of bands for over 5 years and they’re still in great condition after regular use. The great thing about them is that they are ideal for working the human body in the right way, and they are also easily storable and transportable – they take up no more space than an overnight bag, and can be used in any location such as when on holiday or travelling for business.
A simple format for daily exercise is to perform a whole body, low impact warm up for 5 minutes – you don’t need any special equipment, a basic sequence from tai chi, or other martial art is a superb means of preparing the body for more vigorous activity, as is Latin dancing – plus they’ll also improve your balance, rhythm and fluidity of movement. Once you’ve elevated body temperature and gently articulated the joints, you can then spend the next 5 minutes mobilising the joints through a larger range of motion. In the final 5 minutes, you then perform your resistance exercise for a specific movement system with focus on those muscle chains that most need strengthening. In between the sets of resistance exercise, you can stretch the muscle chains most in need of lengthening.*
Over the course of 6 days, with one day of rest, you will cover the entire body without needing, despite what the ‘fitspirational’ memes suggest, to be insulted to the extent that you’re in pain and dysfunctional for days following the session. Gradual, progressive exercise will do more for your health and fitness than any ‘no pain, no gain’, excessively machismo nonsense. Gently nudge the body on the regular basis, give it a chance to adapt, then with patience to allow nature to do its work, the results will astound you.
* If you need help in setting up a program that is appropriate for your current needs and goals, feel free to get in touch we can help you create a program at a relatively nominal cost.
http://www.hpc-uk.net
References:
1- http://humanperformanceconsulting-uk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/evolutionary-fitness.html
2- http://humanperformanceconsulting-uk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/evolutionary-fitness-addendum.html
3- http://www.bhf.org.uk/publications/view-publication.aspx?ps=1001983
4- http://www.junior-sport.co.uk/athletics/athletes/a-balancing-act-darren-jackson-human-performance-consulting-uk/ #
5- http://www.junior-sport.co.uk/athletics/athletes/a-balancing-act-part-2-darren-jackson-human-performance-consulting-uk/ #
6- http://www.junior-sport.co.uk/athletics/athletes/a-balancing-act-part-3-get-your-head-right/ #
# These articles were written for an external website, so the format may have changed from the original versions submitted by Human Performance consulting – UK
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