Fitness Obsessed

If you turn to social media and Youtube, you’ll come across many personal trainers offering their various workout routines. There’s a constant drum of pressure to have big muscles, six-pack abs, or a coke bottle shape for the ladies. However, is it essential for you to bench 300 pounds or squat 600 pounds? How about the idea of being able to run an eight-minute mile? These are standards by which we judge being fit, but what if all you want to do is improve the quality of your life and you don’t subscribe to the ideals of being perfectly “fit”? Being in shape should also be about functional strength, not just the aesthetics. 

Being fit means different things to different people. Society has an obsession with fitness models. You know, the ones that seem well proportioned and just born to grace the cover of muscle magazines. In reality, everyone’s body type is different. Try as you might; you’ll most likely never get your body to reach unrealistic standards because of physiology, age, body type, and natural ability. Many men and women suffer from body dysmorphia because of these unattainable ideals. Body dysmorphia is a mental health condition where one cannot stop obsessing over perceived body flaws. While women primarily suffer from body dysmorphia, studies show one out of three people with this condition is male. 

A New Kind of Fit

There is a growing demand for being fit and mobile with a deemphasis on lifting the heaviest or having ripped muscles or the perfect shape. What if being healthy and in shape meant being able to lead an active life that supports your daily activities or functions? Welcome to the idea of functional strength and conditioning. The idea is to perform exercises that allow us to extend our longevity based on joint movements such as walking a flight of stairs, pushing, and pulling.

The Magnificent Seven

Here are seven functional strength movements you should be able to perform if you want to lead an active and healthy life well into your golden years. The best part is that weights are not required!

Sit/Stand: (sitting down or getting up out of bed)

An everyday movement we perform is raising and lowering our bodies. This requires a healthy lower body (quads, glutes, and calves). As we age, these muscles may weaken due to a sedentary lifestyle. A simple exercise to improve lower body strength while burning calories is doing squats.

Squats

If you had to go with one exercise to do each day for functional strength and conditioning, this is it. The squat is one of our favorite non-weight exercises because it is relatively easy, and you can do it anywhere. Start by standing with your feet shoulder-length apart and squat as if you are about to sit in a chair. Be mindful so that your knees do not go past your toes. Perform 10-12 reps.

Walking Up/Down (taking the stairs)

Most people prefer to take an elevator or escalator rather than walk up a flight of stairs. If you want to challenge yourself or make sure you meet your daily calorie goals on your Apple Watch, opting to take the stairs is excellent. Performing lunges is great for building up your stamina and leg strength.

Lunges

This exercise is another leg movement that requires no weights and is highly beneficial for increasing functional leg strength and core stability. Start with your legs about shoulder length apart. Step one leg forward while keeping the back leg firmly in place. Be careful not to step out too far, as you will return to your original position. We recommend doing 8-12 reps on each leg.

Hinge (bending forward)

Back soreness is a common issue among working adults and a source of doctor’s visits. Those who work at a desk for eight or more hours a day are all too familiar with the back soreness that accompanies being stationary for so long. According to the Health Policy Institute, some 16 million adults experience persistent chronic back pain with back-related issues accounting for work-loss days. Strengthening your back muscles not only helps improve the quality of your life but also helps with posture and balance. 

Here are two exercises to help fortify your back muscles:

1. Hip Hinge 

Stand with your hand on your hips and your feet about hip-width apart. Bend forward until your torso is parallel with the floor. Make sure to keep your glutes and hamstring engaged. Return back to the standing position. Be sure to keep your core engaged throughout the movement. Perform 10-15 reps for three sets with 30-60 seconds of rest between sets.

2. Superman 

Lie face down with your chin on the ground. Keep your ankles with your toes pointed toward the ground. Reach your hands above you so that it looks like you are flying. Tighten your back, glutes, and shoulders to raise your torso a few inches off the ground. Simultaneously raise your legs, so your upper body and legs are off the floor. It should look like you are about to take off like Superman. Perform 3 reps with a 15-30 second static hold and 30-60 seconds rest between sets.    

Push (pushing motion)

For those who can’t make it to the gym for one reason or another, maintaining a strong upper body is crucial for long-term health, particularly as you age. Moving an object like a sofa or shopping cart requires upper body strength. Fortunately, you can build your chest and arm muscles that don’t need the gym.

Pushup

The pushup is a tried, true, and simple exercise that allows for many variations and will strengthen your upper body relatively quickly. Begin by laying on the floor with your arms bent at 90 degrees beside you. Raise your upper body off the floor by pushing up. Your feet should be perpendicular to the floor. Once raised off the floor, lower your body down again. This movement counts as one pushup. Perform 10-15. 

If doing one pushup seems too hard at the beginning, you can perform a pushup on your knees at first before progressing to a standard pushup. For those with poor upper body strength, this may be a little challenging, and you may find that you can only do a few. But with practice, you should be able to increase your reps and notice increased upper body strength and development of your chest, arms, and back muscles.

Pull (pulling a heavy object)

We pull at objects all the time, and a weak upper body is a potential for injury. In addition, you’ll never know when you may need to pull your body weight in an emergency or if you decide to take up rock climbing as a hobby/sport. Having the upper body strength to pull yourself is critical in both instances. For this motion, pull-ups or chin-ups are ideal for strengthening your shoulders, chest, arms, and back by using your body weight to continue building your upper body. As the name implies, performing a chin-up is being able to pull you chin above the pull-up bar. To get to that point, you’ll need to do a lot of pull-ups. 

Pull-up/Chin-up 

As in the pushup, this exercise has several variations depending on your goals. For example, a wide grip targets your shoulders and back, while a closer grip targets your arms, specifically your biceps and triceps. Many people find just doing one pull-up a challenge. Don’t get discouraged. Set a target for yourself. For instance, set a goal of building up to ten consecutive pull-ups. Over time as your strength improves, you should be able to perform more than 10. 

Twist (rotation of your body)

Yet, another back-related injury is when performing a twisting motion. We accomplish this motion without thinking about it. A best practice is to turn to face the object you are looking to pick up rather than twisting in the direction of the item. However, there will be times when you do have to turn your body, and without strengthening the muscles responsible for this motion, you can easily injure yourself. An excellent functional strength exercise to do is a variation of the hip hinge exercise mentioned earlier. 

Hip Hinge Rotation 

Begin by following the steps in the hip hinge exercise. Clasp your fingers to the back of your head. Bend forward until your torso is parallel to the ground. At the end of the motion, twist your trunk to one side before raising it up to the original position. Perform this motion and turn your torso to the opposite side before returning to the original stance again. Perform 10 reps on each side, and include a static hold for about 2-3 seconds on each side. Always remember to engage your core. 

Gait (weight transfer from foot to foot)

Many health experts allege that they can tell a lot about your health by how you walk. This is a motion that most of us take for granted. As we get older, our gait may change due to several factors, such as weight gain, poor posture, and weakened muscles. Here is an exercise that will help with your gait while at the same time strengthening your core muscles. 

Balance Exercise 

For this exercise, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lift one leg off the ground and bend your knee so your calf can hang freely. Hold this position for at least ten seconds. If you have trouble keeping your balance, stretch your arms out to your sides so that your arms are parallel to the floor. Lower your leg and repeat the process with the opposite leg. As your balance improves, you should be able to hold your leg up longer with better body control.

Progression: As your balance improves, you may choose to stand on one leg for more extended periods. To add an additional challenge, try holding weights in your outstretched hands; however, don’t go too heavy with the weight. You can also add ankle weights to this exercise for an additional challenge.