Functional Standards for The Average Gym Goer
There are athletic standards for competitors. Be it powerlifters, basketball players, sprinters, etc. Each discipline has a baseline of fitness necessary for its athletes to perform. But what are the baseline standards for the person who isn’t participating in competitive sports or looking to win a gold medal? What moves should we all be able to perform if we want to live a relatively pain-free and healthy lifestyle? I’ve found that the clients capable of at least performing these moves greatly reduce their probability of injury and interact in the world in a pain-free way. These exercises by no means represent a complete functional strength program but they serve as a baseline to decrease the probability of injury. Before we discuss these moves let’s consider a few things.
Disease is rampant
Our lifestyles are taking us to an early grave. According to the CDC, 7 out of every 10 deaths in the United States are from chronic diseases. Eighty percent (80%) of chronic diseases are preventable. Three out of every four dollars spent on health care in the U.S. is for chronic illness. If we exercised 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, we’d lower our probability of chronic illness by 60%. As of 2020, only 22.9% of Americans met this movement requirement. We are literally marching ourselves to an early grave simply because we are inactive and have an unhealthy diet. The choice to not move and eat well is not only detrimental to our lifespan it also reduces our quality of life.
I’m just getting old
Our unhealthy lifestyles make us believe that we can’t do things after a certain age. Age does affect our bodies, but much of our decline is due to inactivity not age. In high school we’re involved in sports, walk to errands, and lead an active lifestyle. As we “grow up” we start a family, buy a home, and go on vacations. These life stages add financial responsibility demanding long hours of desk sitting. We make more money but move less in the process. Twenty years later, with the desire to reconnect with our younger selves, we decide to play a pick-up game of basketball, hit the gym for a bench press or run a 10K. To our surprise our bodies fail us, and we think, “I used to be able to do this so easily. I must be getting old.”
We are older but we’ve mistaken capacity for ability. Our bodies have the capacity to do what it did 20 years ago but we have not put in the work to make sure we have the ability. “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Consider a world class surgeon who retired in his/her mid-thirties. If this surgeon decided to return to surgery 20 years later, would the surgeon jump right back into the operating room? Heaven forbid! The surgeon would start in a skills lab, revisit techniques of the past to remind his/her hands, brain, and body how it feels to hold a scalpel before completing the surgeon’s first surgery. The same approach must be used for our bodies. We shouldn’t “pick up where we left off” after 20 years of inactivity. Implementing a progressive approach will minimize injury and maximize our overall success.
But I run every day.
“Well, I’m active, I run, bike, garden, etc. But I’m in pain. It can only be age.” If all I ate was broccoli every day, would I have a balanced diet? What about fish? Fruit? Yes, these are healthy foods but without the accompaniment of other healthy fuel our diets will be lacking. We need variety of food to nourish our bodies with the macronutrients and micronutrients necessary to have a balanced diet. It is the same with our training.
If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, you’ll know that there is a difference between training and moving. Training is a systematic approach to progress a client where moving is a great workout that makes you sweat. Training is imperative to the inactive adult interested in regaining health. A functional trainer will create a program that will address the musculoskeletal imbalances that come with repetitive tissue trauma (desk sitting) and create an efficient program to foster the greatest results.
But I still have pain.
Our muscles can be any combination of strong, weak, loose, or tight. Ideally our muscles are strong and loose. Strong and tight or weak and loose muscles warn us to proceed with caution whereas tight and weak muscles are a recipe for disaster. Forces act on our bodies every day. Our inactivity can leave us weak and tight. In time we lose our strength to counteract the forces on our bodies resulting in constant pain. Think of a rubber band, when it’s loose and strong with no rips or tears, it flies across the room when pulled. Take a stiff rubber band and try to stretch it and wham it cracks.
We also must remember that staying in fixed positions for an extended amount of time creates imbalances that cause adaptations to our motor patterns. When certain muscles are too tight or too loose, they don’t fire correctly. As a result, alternate muscles are forced to pick up the slack. An uneven pull or incorrect alignment will result in compromised motor patterns, “hello pain”. It is a constant balancing act, but a proper exercise program will help keep this balance and alleviate pain and discomfort.
So, what are standards for me?
We’ve learned that chronic diseases are largely preventable with consistent exercise and a balanced diet. Functional training, which is best for the general population, is designed to mimic movements in our daily lives to make tasks easier. Though there are great functional training standards for athletes (Test Yourself With the New Functional Strength Standards), the standards for the average gym goer (i.e., sit on a chair and touch your toes, raise your arms above your head, etc.) are minimal. I won’t discuss how frustrating it is that we’ve lowered our standards for the general population. Instead, I’d like to share the 7 functional standards I use for all clients. These moves are NOT the only elements necessary to be strong, (a row variation is always included in my programing), but I’ve found that clients capable of correctly completing these exercises reduce their probability of injury and generally live pain-free.
We Believe Fitness Functional Training Standards for the General Population Client
- Push-ups – Men 10 // Women 7
- Cardio – 30 minutes of steady state cardio
- Glute Bridge – 60 second hold to 24:12 reps 2-1 leg
- Side Plank – 60 second hold each side
- Plank – 60 second hold
- Body Weight Squats – 3 sets // 20 reps with 45 second rest between sets
- One Arm Farmers Carry – 30 seconds at 40-50 percent of body weight (assumes healthy body fat)
These moves improve strength and conditioning, heart health, work on anti-rotation, work on spinal stabilization and assess basic upper and lower body mobility at the shoulders, hips and ankles. Hiring a qualified trainer to develop a strength program with corrective work embedded is the best way to see quick and long-lasting results but the above moves are a great baseline to improve overall health. I hope this blog has shared why exercising is so important, gives you a standard to gauge your current health level and most importantly, I hope this blog encourages you to move. Stay safe, stay healthy and stay active!
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Photo Credit @gabinvallet