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Fitness Insight:

By Ryan Thomson

We have come along way from muscle beach.  To the educated, the days of one dimensional lifts are becoming obsolete, and machines are collecting dust.  Fitness is no longer defined by bulky beach muscles, and one rep max barbell lifts while performed on a bench.  The fitness industry has caught on to the importance of the 29 muscles of the core.  Open minds are starting to discover and understand how important it is to get all 300 muscles to work as one functional chain.   The benefits to muscular coordination and how essential multiplanar lifting is for every day life.  

How do you lift groceries from your trunk, lift paint cans to your waist, shovel snow, or move boxes around the house?...Well, the answer has nothing to do with a nautilus machine, the elliptical machine or a barbell bench press, that's for sure.  

So, what is fitness?

Fitness is the feeling of well-being.  True fitness is being able to handle the challenges of every day life.  Challenges like: climbing multiple flights of stairs, riding a bike, helping a friend move, or keeping up with your kids.  In order to feel good and maintain these activities you must be fit.  The more functional training you perform, the easier everyday life is!  

True fitness is not easy, and if it was then most everyone would do it.  Real gains and functional strength are earned.  In order to get there you need to step outside that comfort zone.  Put some effort into the correct program and you will reach your goals!

As a firefighter, fitness is a necessity.  Being able to rise to the challenge, and have the confidence in my bodies ability to get things done.

When it comes to fitness there is almost no challenge too high.  I'm not saying that these challenges are executed easily.  Some may take months to perform efficiently.  It is called a "workout" for a reason.  It takes work!  The more you put in the more you get out of it.  Rise to the challenges and make some gains.

A great way to get started with a functional program is to follow these guidelines:

Every workout should have 4 planes of motion.  Make sure there is some type of Squat, Press, Pull and Transverse movement.  Then you are on your way to promoting good muscular coordination and functional strength.

Yoga:  Its promotes flexibility, strength and a solid core.  With all of these benefits, injury prevention is one of the most important.  Not to mention the feeling of relaxation it gives you after session.  There are many clubs that offer Yoga around Greater Portland.  There was an article in the Portland Press about the benefits of Yoga with cancer patients.  They found that patients were more relaxed, had more energy, better sleeping patterns, and reduce the need for many medications.  Most of the medications no longer needed were for relaxation and focus.  

One thing that is not addressed enough is a good warm up for the muscles and joints.  Here is a great combo that requires no equipment:

-jumping jacks 1min

-arm circles forward and back, 30 sec each way

-jumping jacks 1min

-knee circles for 30sec each direction with feet planted

hip circles 30 sec each direction

-jumpining jacks 1min

-20 deep squats, making sure the heels stay down and keeping good form 

-Walking sampson stretch

A good cool down after your weight training is important.  It will promote flexibility and help reduce some soreness that follows by working out the lactic acid.

Any variation of light cardio is a great cool down.  Some good active stretching helps too.