| Working Out or Working? |
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| Friday, 14 May 2010 21:30 | |||
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Functional training is nothing new. Same for some of the "functional training" exercises that many trainers are adopting. What baffles me is that when it truly becomes necessary to do these "exercises", many trainees, and trainers, would quickly pick up the phone or go online and hire someone to do it for them. Take, for example, sledgehammer training. I have plenty of portable fitness training equipment, a decent collection of tools- gardening, hand, and a few power tools. I do have a baby sledgehammer, but not a full sized one. I don't use the baby sledge for exercise, even though it would be great for forearm, wrist and grip training. Instead, I use it for pounding, smashing, driving, and breaking, its intended purpose. If a project comes up where I would need a full size sledge, the same would apply. I've noticed lately that lots of trainers, and their clients, use the sledgehammer as an exercise tool. Even Jillian you-know who. But for many, that's all they use it for. I wonder, if they discovered a slab leak in their home, would they volunteer to crack the cement, or stand by and let the plumber use a jackhammer?  Another is the average person's adaptation of the strongman event: the truck pull. I'd guess for many trainees this isn't going to be put to real use. With nearly everyone carrying a cell phone, who's going to push or pull their vehicle to a service station and not call a tow service? And let's not forget tire flipping. If you've ever seen a Parkhouse truck, you'll notice the mechanized, articulating arm on the back. It's for moving tires, so the driver/mechanic doesn't have to. I don't know, maybe at the end of their shift, when they're back at the service yard, they might flip giant tires for fun. Which is what it is- fun, probably more so than functional for most. Last, there's the farmer's walk. It's great for building grip strength and endurance, it works the core, and the cardio-respiratory system. Not as fun as flipping giant tractor tires though. Yes, it's functional, but most people that perform this task daily for work probably don't do farmer's walks as part of their structured exercise program. 
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Comments
You have seen some of the World's Strongest Man competitions on TV before though, right?
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