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I took the small team pictured to your left to Tough Mudder and they all done brilliantly, however looking around I was amazed at the lack of function from even extremely fit chiselled competitors.
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Some competitors showed great function, body awareness (kinesphere) and strength putting their limbs through their full range of movements and knowing what their bodies are capable of.
Kinesphere is the circle above, could be described as a bubble of body awareness knowing excactly where your limbs are in time and space and being able to control them effectively. The Kinesphere should as big as your body can reach in any plain of movement.
IS THIS BUBBLE GETTING SMALLER?
Loads of competitors male and female not even able to pull themselves over a small wall or a waist deep puddle (what has happened to the human race?) yes they can bench press double their body weight but being able to climb over a wooden angled wall “nope”. they have specialised and can smash out a certain class or regime but they have lost most of their function.
It sems as though people have forgotten how to climb, pull, push, jump, swing and move.
Remember with function you either use it or lose it and when you lose it you get old......
You dont lose your function when you get old - you get old because you stop using your functions.
{Are you a couch Potato? it’s because you stopped challenging your body and balance}
These really fasionable obstacle course races can be tackled successfully on your own if the weather is on your side and if you know what your body is capable of. Some people might say i cant do it because I am just 5ft, i have seen a number of shorter individuals getting over the large Army obstacle wall without assistance just using their function to its potential.
MY FUNCTIONAL PROGRESSION IN STAGES
1 {learned how to crawl}
2 {learned how to walk}
3 {learned how to climb bunk beds, garden walls, trees, houses, anything}
4 {learned how to swim and ride a bike}
5 {learned sports}
6 {learned adventure sports}
7 {learned how to coach skiing, climbing,kayaking,canoeing,mountain biking,snow boarding}
8 {learned how to coach fitness movements}
So my functional development is different to most, but I put my current awareness down to the early stages 1-2-3 and then I kept trying to climb, crawl and jump even at 40 years of age.
I personally believe that some younger people are missing out functional stages like 3-4-5 (instead prefering to play playstations etc) then never really learning the full functional potential of their bodies. leading to generations of people that show great online movement but no real life movement. (couch potatoes)
In fact I have seen it thousands of times now with Army Recruits, Young Soldiers, Army Cadets, Children and people on events - we are losing the use of our kinesphere(bubble of awareness) and making it smaller and smaller.
What I would recommend to start doing straight away if you have NIL function:
- Progressively start using your body again, safely and in a controlled manner...
- Get back on a bike
- Crawl
- Run
- Climb something
- Jump over some things - maybe do it on a bike too
- Re-learn how to do a cartwheel, forward roll, hand stand, frog
- Have a go on a swing
- Jump into something
“you are not too old - it’s not too late - you are not too busy - you are not too fat”
in the words of NIKE...”just do it”
If you would like to be functional at Forty or older drop me a line and we can get your function back.
Glenn(functional at Forty) Hill