By a raise of your hands, how many of you complain of a bad back? How about knee pain? Shoulder pain? Painful feet? Abdominal pain? Now, raise those hands again if you go to the gym, maybe use a treadmill and then proceed to use machines for your workout... I bet a good amount of you that have pain said yes to using machines. You may be asking yourself, "I thought machines were good, and it's better then nothing." Well, I'm here to tell you that machine training can be exactly why you have a bad back or have knee pain. I'll explain.
As humans, our bodies are designed to move freely, in a functional pattern day in and day out. We move in 3 planes of motion everyday: The Sagittal Plane (in front of us), Frontal Plane (side to side), and Transverse Plane (rotation). We pick things up from the ground; we walk, run, grab things above us, play sports, pick up our kids and so on and so forth. Everyday we ask our bodies to do things that require us to be strong as a freely moving body. So, why on earth would we train our bodies in a gym sitting on a machine? Machines are a fixed piece of equipment. They assist us to move in one plane of motion. Let me say that again, one plane of motion.
These names may be very familiar to you; the Pec Dec (when do we every sit in a chair and push out to work our chest), the Quad Extension and Flexion machines (again, sitting and strengthening our quads or laying on your stomach and strengthening your hamstrings), how is this in any way a movement that we do everyday. How about this one, the glut extension machine... I know so many ladies that think pushing a weight behind you will get rid of that extra something on your butt. When do YOU ever perform that movement in a day to day activity?
Many of you are probably thinking, "This goes against everything I have ever heard about working out". Well, wake up and smell the coffee! We live in an age where the term "Functional Training" is everywhere. Here is the definition of what this term means; Functional training is a classification of exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life.
Using a machine does not allow the body to properly prepare itself for the daily activities of life. How on earth can you learn to squat down or bend over and pick something up by sitting in a machine and extended your leg. How will your flexibility and your posture ever improve to the point of performing an athletic movement on the softball field if you use a machine to do a row? The simple answers to these questions are they can't... So, get off those machines, get your body moving in a way where YOU can actually move! We do enough sitting every day at our desks, working on the computers, sitting on the couches. Inactivity is everywhere. Let's utilize what we have and allow our bodies to get strong in movements that mimic our everyday activities. This way, you can improve your CORE strength, posture, flexibility and get rid of those aches and pains that come with not moving.
So, in our next article on Functional Training, we will go over the various exercises that you can do that will allow your body to move and be strong. Thanks for your time. Now, get up and move around, your body will thank you!
As humans, our bodies are designed to move freely, in a functional pattern day in and day out. We move in 3 planes of motion everyday: The Sagittal Plane (in front of us), Frontal Plane (side to side), and Transverse Plane (rotation). We pick things up from the ground; we walk, run, grab things above us, play sports, pick up our kids and so on and so forth. Everyday we ask our bodies to do things that require us to be strong as a freely moving body. So, why on earth would we train our bodies in a gym sitting on a machine? Machines are a fixed piece of equipment. They assist us to move in one plane of motion. Let me say that again, one plane of motion.
These names may be very familiar to you; the Pec Dec (when do we every sit in a chair and push out to work our chest), the Quad Extension and Flexion machines (again, sitting and strengthening our quads or laying on your stomach and strengthening your hamstrings), how is this in any way a movement that we do everyday. How about this one, the glut extension machine... I know so many ladies that think pushing a weight behind you will get rid of that extra something on your butt. When do YOU ever perform that movement in a day to day activity?
Many of you are probably thinking, "This goes against everything I have ever heard about working out". Well, wake up and smell the coffee! We live in an age where the term "Functional Training" is everywhere. Here is the definition of what this term means; Functional training is a classification of exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life.
Using a machine does not allow the body to properly prepare itself for the daily activities of life. How on earth can you learn to squat down or bend over and pick something up by sitting in a machine and extended your leg. How will your flexibility and your posture ever improve to the point of performing an athletic movement on the softball field if you use a machine to do a row? The simple answers to these questions are they can't... So, get off those machines, get your body moving in a way where YOU can actually move! We do enough sitting every day at our desks, working on the computers, sitting on the couches. Inactivity is everywhere. Let's utilize what we have and allow our bodies to get strong in movements that mimic our everyday activities. This way, you can improve your CORE strength, posture, flexibility and get rid of those aches and pains that come with not moving.
So, in our next article on Functional Training, we will go over the various exercises that you can do that will allow your body to move and be strong. Thanks for your time. Now, get up and move around, your body will thank you!
My name is Aaron Palmer. I own a training and massage business called Gator CrossFit. I am one of 1,000 affiliates of CrossFit worldwide. I have been a personal trainer since 2003 and a Licensed Massage Therapist since 2006. Though CrossFit is predominately focused on increasing power, speed, coordination, balance, lean muscle mass, athletic performance and injury prevention, that is just the start of what we do here at Gator Crossfit. We have the understanding and knowledge to help people with any form of soft tissue and muscular injuries. Our corrective exercise background stems from helping people in pain such as Disk rehab, CORE conditioning, postural evaluation and correction and much more. The bulk of what we do is CrossFit training and we currently train members of the Gainesville SWAT Team, local military, Rugby and Lacrosse players and the everyday Joe and Jane.
As a graduate from the University of Florida with a degree in Exercise and Sport Sciences, understanding the body and what it take to make it truly efficient has been a passion of mine for a long time now. Being a competitive triathlete has given me the understanding of what it takes to be a success in athletics.
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