Our bodies are made to move and when we move, it should feel good!
Canadian activity guidelines encourage more activity and exercise during our day and to limit periods of sedentary activity.
Our bodies feel better with movement. Movement helps to work out stiffness, maintain range of motion and when done with intention, can even help to maintain or increase our strength. Something that should be important to all adults, given the fact that our muscle mass begins to decline after age 30, and even more quickly after age 60.
The good news is that is it never too late to start adding in purposeful movement into our routine to improve our range of motion, fitness and strength!
A type of workout that is gaining popularity and seems to be a trend for 2024 is something called functional fitness.
Functional fitness is any movement that will help train our body for our day-to-day chores and activities. This type of training focuses on working our muscles in ways that mimic common movements we typically engage in during our day at work, home or play. The focus is to help our bodies to be more capable of doing our real-life activities and to move in and out of real-life positions with more ease and comfort. The goal is to help our bodies get up off the floor, or carry heavy objects or reach up to a high shelf with more confidence and ability. This improved fitness will help lessen the risk of straining or pulling a muscle. It will also help to improve balance, endurance and flexibility!
To get the benefits of functional fitness, we should follow the Canadian guidelines for strength training. In order for our bodies to become stronger, we need to ensure we are completing our training two or three times a week, with a day of recovery in between.
These exercises need to be done with control, moving with curiosity and paying attention to how the movement feels.
Motion is lotion
It is important to maintain a pain free range of motion with all activity.
Motion is lotion, and over time, our range of motion will increase. The increase may be seen within the first few repetitions, depending on how stiff our bodies are, or, may come gradually over time as we begin to ease the tension in the area of the body we are moving.
The day of recovery in between these workouts can be an active recovery day with enjoyable movements such as a walk or some yoga, for example.
If our bodies haven’t engaged in exercise for some time, a good place to start is to check our posture and alignment. Since the purpose of functional fitness is to increase our body’s “function” or ability to move, we should ensure our bodies are ready to move or “function” and look for existing stiffness or tension in our muscles. This tension needs to be released before we begin strengthening our muscles.
Our bodies were designed so that our joints “stack” over one another. That is to say, our ears should be over our shoulders, which are over our hips, which are over our knees, which are over our ankles.
Standing in front of a long length mirror or against a wall is a good way to check our posture.
Noting any hunching over or tension in parts of the body when we try to stand tall? Try to correct with gentle upright movement and stretching to regain this range of motion. It may not feel as comfortable to stand up fully at first, so be gentle and don’t force it. Rather, check in with our posture frequently throughout the day, correct what we note is off.
Over time, we will likely return to our old, hunched posture, so we need to check our posture multiple times a day. Be sure not to aim to stand perfect all day long, just look for progression. Eventually, we can train our bodies back to better posture.
Next, we could test the range of motion of our bodies. Again, moving slowly and with control, take the time to check in with how things move. Aim to use movements that are part of daily life to do this. For example, starting with the neck, does it move freely to look up, to each side and down? Are there any areas of resistance due to stiffness? Be sure the movement is being done solely at the neck, we shouldn’t be twisting our torso to look sideways, for example.
Do this for all the moving parts of our bodies. Take note of areas that could move better. This can provide a list of areas to target with a gentle stretching program, for example. If our ‘function’ or movement is good, but we notice that parts of our body tire easily with this, we can add in some strengthening to continue to improve our “function.”
Great resource
A kinesiologist is a great resource to help you to test range of motion, look for areas of stiffness or weakness, create a stretching routine or help with increasing strength, endurance and balance all of which will improve our “function.”
Sandy Turner is a Registered Kinesiologist with the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team.
For more information about any of the free services offered by the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team or to book a visit with one of our kinesiologists, visit www.mmfht.ca or call 519-638-2110. Like the team on Facebook (Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team) and follow on Instagram (mintomapleton_fht) for healthy living tips and information on upcoming programs and events in the area.