A common theme in my new blog posts is human function and probably more accurately, dysfunction. Nobody is perfect especially when it comes to complete human function but there are examples of excellence in specific function.
Usain Bolt and Catherine Ndereba are examples of excellence in gait (sprinting and distance running), forward players in rugby are experts at pushing due to their practice at scummaging, Olympic lifters usually have excellent squat patterns and discus, shot putters and javelin throwers have gained excellence in rotation.
Gait, push, squat, rotate are all human movement “patterns”, part of the 7 we all can do, the other 3 being lunge, pull and hinge. These were discussed in a previous post here and along with movement “planes” being saggital (forwards/backwards), transverse (rotation) and coronal (side to side).
These movements are our human function as it pertains to anatomical structure, bones, muscles and connective tissues and play a major role in our basic physiology. Physiology relates directly to health and I will be writing a post very soon about this subject. For now what I am telling you is this, if you practice human movement patterns and planes on a regular basis your general physiology will improve, even to the extent that the neuroendocrine system will be positively impacted. There are researched and confirmed relationships between certain types of exercise and hormonal balance.
What do hormones dictate? How we feel, how we sleep, our emotions, reactions to events, whether we can reproduce, if we have energy and our ability to lose fat and put on muscle…….there’s a LOT of things.
Move poorly or incorrectly or not move at all and your hormones won’t thank you! Add to this sleep/rest and nutrition being the other major influencing factors on our hormonal balance and lack of attention to these results in hormonal imbalances – which in turn will lead to lack of function!
As a starting point for all of our fitness routines we should be addressing the 7 patterns and 3 planes. There’s a mantra that all good fitness coaches adhere to and that is “movement before loading”. In other words learn to move correctly before engaging in any strength training. Most good coaches will correct or teach movement patterns first, then technique in lifts, jumps, rotations, sprints, hinge and should be able to evaluate a running gait to name some of the basic movements.
Once these are sorted out real conditioning and strength training can commence, these activities providing the platform for highly beneficial impact on the neuroendocrine system.
Running off fat with long-winded cardio, out-training a bad diet, doing crunches “to get abs”, excessive bicep curls to build arms and eating 6 small meals a day to boost metabolism are all examples of the misinformation that is awash in the fitness industry and many people are completely unaware of it.
A lack of awareness results in people doing many things the wrong way and physiological dysfunction soon follows. The worst thing is a lot of this becomes a chronic injury especially in joints, shoulders, ankles, knees and back.
Chronic injuries can be created by trainers with the best intentions but simply not having the proper anatomical nor physiological knowledge. Putting clients through frequent sessions of poorly performed exercises over periods of months could be really bad for a client and the client has no idea. Just like the trainer, sadly.
Poor physiological function results and this will lead potentially to medical issues.
Your trainer should be able to explain basic physiology including hormone balance, joint mobility, movement patterns and planes – if he or she cannot they do not understand the very basics and this is a big problem.
Your training should not be compromising human function and you can certainly ill-afford to spend money on a professional that then goes about doing just that!
Currently globally there is no governing body that fitness professionals can register on and that people can use to find a qualified and reliable expert in the fitness industry. Until then there are shots in the dark unless you get lucky and stumble across someone that meets the criteria!
https://www.facebook.com/3TRUTHSFitness
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX3RNDSGYa3trBWK5QRUegA
