Be FUNctionally Fit
By Officer C - Guest author
“Let me see your hands!” The suspect startles, spins. Bolts hard right and the chase is on. My partner and I tear down the alley behind him. I can feel every pockmark in the dirt as my knees get crunched between uneven ground and the thirty-five pounds of gear worn around my waist. Our bad guy is wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and athletic shoes, and suddenly I hate him for jumping over the wall so easily. Partner is broadcasting, trying not to sound winded.
I pull two-hundred fifteen pounds plus the cheeseburger that’s sitting in my stomach up and over to the other side, landing with a thud. I figure the cheeseburger hits somewhere down around my ankles. I’m alone for a second, and then I hear a second thud behind me. The suspect is cornered. We know him. Third-striker, doesn’t want to go back, would kill not to go back. I can hear the sirens in the distance, the twirl of helicopter blades, the sweet sounds of cavalry. It isn’t a question of if the troops are coming – it’s just a question of what they’ll find when they get here. The suspect clenches his fists, and the fight is on.
Some people train to bulk up. Others train to slim down, especially after the delicious holiday feasts we rejoice in at this time of the year. But what about training to improve athletic performance and the ability to move and carry out day-to-day activities?
That’s where Functional Fitness comes in. Form (physical appearance) follows function (ability to move). Functional training has been around for some time with collegiate and professional sports teams, but for some reason it has yet to catch on in Law Enforcement circles with “tactical athletes.” Because Police Officers typically perform explosive movements over unstable surfaces while wearing what is essentially a thirty-five pound weight around their midsection, additional demands are placed upon the core and stabilizing muscles. While jogging several miles at a steady pace is certainly great for cardiovascular health (and arguably shooting accuracy due to the benefits of having a naturally slower heart rate), there isn’t a whole lot of direct skill transfer to suspect apprehension.
We simply don’t jog after suspects over long stretches of perfectly paved road. Nor is fighting with a combative suspect as simple a movement as performing a seated bicep Preacher curl. We sprint, climb, jump, lunge, twist, push/pull, etc., using our whole body, and do our best not to get hurt in the process.
But Functional Fitness doesn’t just apply to chasing down the bad guys – imagine taking groceries from the car to the kitchen. Suppose you have two grocery bags – one holds two loaves of bread and the other bag has two plastic jugs of milk. You carry each in a separate hand and notice that the milk bag weighs substantially more than the bread bag. Your core is activated because of the increased load on one side of your body. You walk up the steps to the front door, placing demands on the stabilizing muscles of your legs. You make your way through the living room, but one of the kids has left out a toy again and thanks to good ol’ Murphy’s Law it gets underfoot. You start to slip on it, but catch yourself reflexively. Finally you make it to the kitchen and hoist the bags up to the countertop with a twisting motion, and breathe a sigh of relief before the next task.
The goal of Functional Fitness is to train using complex movement patterns over unstable surfaces that simulate real life. Perhaps you’ve been going to the gym and using the chest press machine, and you marvel at how you can press a solid 300 lb. But for the life of you, you can’t understand why you can only put up 200 lb. on the flat bench press using a barbell, and even less using only 60 lb. dumbbells (which total 120 lb.). That’s because the machine is doing a lot of the work for you with the 300 lb. When you’re seated comfortably on the machine and it forces your body to move through a fixed plane of motion, your body doesn’t have to stabilize itself. When you switch to the bench press, suddenly those little stabilizers are screaming for mercy. And because using dumbbells is even less “fixed” than holding one long barbell, you again have to decrease the load to compensate for the fact that each arm is working independently.
If you’ve ever used a Swiss exercise ball (i.e. those big plastic round things full of air), that’s a functional exercise device. Imagine taking one of those 60 lb. dumbbells from above, laying back on the ball, and pressing that 60 lb. up with only one arm while your other hand is empty. Now your whole body is involved. Not only are you engaging your chest and arm muscles, but your entire abdominal wall is working to keep you from falling off of the ball in the process. (NOTE: You will want to use a burst resistant ball designed for use with weights – the majority of Swiss balls that are commercially available are not.)
Most traditional exercises have different functional progressions, and here the adage applies, “Variety is the spice of life.” Bodyweight training is always functional because you’re moving your own body through space against the pull of gravity (ever notice how fit gymnasts are?). For this reason, doing pull-ups, chin-ups, and rope climbing will always be superior exercises to a lat pulldown. If you’re tired of push-ups, try doing them suspended off of the ground so that your hands swing freely. From there, you can take it even further and do suspended push-ups with your feet on a Swiss ball, keeping your entire body straight and not allowing your midsection from curving or buckling. Eventually you’ll reach a point when your own bodyweight isn’t enough of a challenge – add a weight vest.
There are also many different ways to create a “balance” component for given exercises. One of the cheapest and easiest is simply to stand on one foot while doing a specific exercise. Love your biceps curls, guys? Try curling standing on one foot. Want to work on your legs, ladies? Try doing one-legged squats using just your bodyweight. You can also use wobble boards, Reebok core boards, Bosu balls, and so forth to simulate an unstable environment. These are simply more tools for your fitness toolbox, and it’s a lot of fun to come up with new challenges and variations on old exercises.
Functional training isn’t intended to replace the “meat and potatoes” of weight training or running fundamentals, but if you incorporate this type of training into your regular routines, you’ll likely notice the following benefits:
- you don’t have to spend as much time doing crunches and specific ab work because your core is going to get a workout while performing these complex movements,
- when you return to exercises like the traditional flat bench press, you’ll be able to put up more weight because your stabilizing muscles will be better prepared for the task,
- your body will be better able to engage in active injury prevention against falls, sprains, etc. and/or lower back issues,
- it will make your running stride more efficient. In future articles we’ll take a look at specific programs and exercises.
Until then, there are a growing number of resources for learning more about Functional Fitness and various techniques. Train as if your life (and your groceries) depend on it!
WEBSITES
- www.crossfit.com
- www.gymjones.com
- www.chekinstitute.com
- www.alwyncosgrove.com
- www.rachelcosgrove.com
TOOLS & TOYS
BOOKS*
- How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy by Paul Chek
- New Rules of Lifting: Six Basic Moves for Maximum Muscle by Alwyn Cosgrove and Lou Schuler
- New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess by Alwyn Cosgrove, Lou Schuler, and Cassandra E. Forsythe
- Get On the Ball by Lisa Westlake
*These books are available through my Amazon Favorites window, at top on the right. Click on pages 2 and 3 to see them.
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DISCLAIMER: The information provided here is general in nature. Always consult a Doctor before beginning any exercise program. The user assumes all risks and personal responsibilities for participating in these physical activities.
Good article, keep pushing 'em out!
Posted by: SES | December 07, 2007 at 11:36 PM