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I like to use my body. I enjoy the ability to move, to work, to train. I like how it feels. That joy wasn't always there. The seed that grew into the jungle of my own joy of effort was planted when I started martial arts at age 13. I do my own daily martial arts training because it helps me tune my body and feel good. It keeps me fit, but I don't do my own training for fitness. I do it because it keeps me and my body functionally connected and "centered". And to help manage all the injuries I have accumulated (back, neck, elbow, etc). So, for me that joy of effort is also tempered by my own 20 plus year dance with chronic pain. But, more on that in later posts.

The title of this post, "The Joy of Effort", comes from the name of a sculpture by R. Tait McKenzie. He was born in Canada in 1867-the same year Canada was officially established as a country and not just a British Colony-and went on to become an internationally recognized physician, athlete, sculptor, soldier, and physical educator. He was also a major player in the Scouting movement.

McKenzie seemed to enjoy activities that did not solely require purely physical abilities like strength or endurance. Instead things that included skill, movement coordination, and could be enhanced by practice were his forte. He was also a huge advocate of the idea of physical activity as a preventative measure. That is, to reduce the impact of disease.

While he didn't originally see himself as terribly athletic, McKenzie eventually found his groove in gymnastics, acrobatics, as well as track and field and football. He was one of the leaders. And many of his sculptures depict athletes in action. The one known as "The Joy of Effort" shows a sequence of 3 images of a hurdler in mid-flight and is the icon I used for this post.

"The Joy of Effort" gets directly at the idea of feeling good about using your body to do things. This includes using your brain! The key part is that effort is involved. Wanting things to take effort runs contrary to most of the ethos in modern society. Instead of effort we want easy most of the time. But there is real benefit and value to the effort itself.

This idea of the value of effort shows up sometimes in unexpected places. Like Hollywood movies such as 1992's "A League of Their Own". When Tom Hanks' character Jimmy Dugan is discussing how playing baseball is difficult he says: "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great." This gets at the idea I think R. Tait McKenzie meant by "The Joy of Effort". Using your brain and body to move or try something difficult can be its own reward.  

 more on The Joy of Effort 

Health Kick
 

Functional fitness may be among the latest buzzwords in gyms these days, but for good reason. It's about training your body to handle real-life situations.

Yesterday you had a great workout at the gym. You're bench-pressing more weight than ever before, and pulling enough weight on the seated rowing machine to try out for the Olympic sculling team.

Today, you lift a 60-pound suitcase to carry it downstairs -- and throw your back out. What happened? In all likelihood, you're not paying enough attention to your functional fitness. You might be toned, tight, and ready for the beach, but are you ready to lift your toddler out of his car seat or hoist the spring-water bottle onto the dispenser?

Functional fitness and functional exercise are the latest gym buzzwords. They focus on building a body capable of doing real-life activities in real-life positions, not just lifting a certain amount of weight in an idealized posture created by a gym machine.

Making Muscles Work Together

"Conventional weight training isolates muscle groups, but it doesn't teach the muscle groups you're isolating to work with others," says Greg Roskopf, MS, a biomechanics consultant with a company called Muscle Activation Techniques who has worked with athletes from the Denver Broncos, the Denver Nuggets, and the Utah Jazz.

"The key to functional exercise is integration. It's about teaching all the muscles to work together rather than isolating them to work independently."

So what's an example of a functional exercise? Think of a bent-over row; not the kind of row you do on a seated machine, but the kind you do leaning over a bench, holding the weight in one hand with your arm hanging straight down, and then pulling the weight up as your elbow points to the ceiling, finishing with your upper arm parallel to the ground.

"That's an exercise that will build the muscles of the back, the shoulders, the arms, and because of its nature will really work your whole body," says exercise kinesiologist Paul Chek, MSS, founder of the Corrective High-performance Exercise Kinesiology Institute in California who has advised the Chicago Bulls and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

"Compare that motion to a carpenter bending over a piece of wood, a nurse bending over a bed to transfer a patient, or an auto mechanic bending over to adjust your carburetor. Anyone doing a bent-over row will find a carryover in things you do in normal life."

Contrast that with the seated row: You're sitting in a chair with your chest pressed against pads, and you pull two levers back. "You may be strengthening certain muscles, but your body's not learning anything, because you don't have to activate your core stabilizer muscles or the stabilizers of your arms and shoulders. The machine's doing it for you," says Chek.

"In functional fitness, most of the time, you should be standing on your own two feet and supporting your own weight when you lift anything."  

• 16 AUG 13 
• 23 AUG 13