Andy's Fitness Retreat Report

Andy's report from the fitness retreat.

Exercise is not functional!
Goals are not practical!!

These days there are a lot of classes and programs and personalities talking about functional exercise but I don’t believe it gives an appropriate understanding. You see whilst exercise is good for body and mind (proven) functional exercise is supposed to include elements of training or physical development similar to the tasks of the day ie squatting is a functional movement..but not when you do it 25 times in a row with a little rest and a barbell and weight on your back.

Gyms, exercise studios, fitness retreats and keep fit clubs etc etc are relatively new in all honesty, they haven’t been around for all that long really, in the grand scheme of things anyway. People used to just be capable because their day to day lives and harsh existence prepared them differently. so no exercise you do in a class environment or with goals of development can truly be considered functional or necessary this may seem obvious to some and unimportant to others “so wanting to look good isn’t natural”.. big wow! A lot of us are happy with the idea that we are doing this to look and feel better to ourselves and that our health is not directly linked to this.

But those of us who want to be healthier or look after themselves have been conditioned to judge and gauge themselves in the same way as those wanting to look better in the mirror (not criticising that point of view by the way) as it’s the only way to know if what we are doing is working. Exercise to get or stay fit and healthy is not a starting point. You cannot exercise to stay somewhere it is a constant fluctuation with progress at the heart of the purpose. Exercise is something we add in to further our development once we have decided that is what we want to do.

One of the reasons we have these blurred lines about exercise and our health aside from our nature to see the target and choose the quickest path to reach it even if it means cutting a corner or two. Is because for the newest product or training approach to become profitable it has to be different it has to suggest there is something about it that will make the difference. Over the years this has led us to instinctively “know” that we need to exercise to achieve a normal health. I don’t believe that anymore. If we choose to walk to work everyday or do some activity at the weekends, if we choose a healthy breakfast and a 10 minute walk at lunch why can’t that be enough?