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Starting Line Fitness
Starting Line Fitness?

I was recently asked why I chose the name Starting Line Fitness. I realized that I've only told a couple of people how I picked the name Starting Line Fitness. So here goes... It was a dark stormy night...just kidding. One day my wife and I were hanging out in our living room and she asked if I could write her a workout program. She had recently joined a new gym and wanted to do more than just group fitness classes and cardio machines.

I was up to the challenge. I wrote the best damn program that was ever written. She looked at it for all two seconds and said "what are those?" She pointed to the words "Barbell Back Squats 45lbs 3x10".

bear crawls

Practicality of Bear Crawls and Tire Flips

I recently saw a video on Facebook labeled something like "if your workout doesn't have practical carryover, then what's the point?" The video then showed clients doing farmer's carries, bear crawls and tire flips. This got me wondering: have I forgotten what the word "practical" means? prac.ti.cal- of or concerned with the actual doing or use of something rather than with theory and ideas. "there are two obvious practical applications of the research" synonyms: empirical, hands-on, actual, active, applied, heuristic, experiential, evidence-based "practical experience" antonyms: theoretical

2. so nearly the case that it can be regarded as so; virtual. "it was a practical certainty that he would try to raise more money" synonyms: virtual, effective, near

Now that I've got clarification about the definition of "practical" via good ol' Google, I ask do farmer's carries, bear crawls and tire flips have "practical carryover"?

Farmer's carries definitely have carryover into real life. We routinely carry grocery bags, suitcases and other things as we go about everyday life. Now when I start to think about bear crawls and tire flips things begin to get confusing for me. I'm hard pressed to come up with everyday life activities in which bear crawls and tire flips are "concerned with the actual doing or use of something" or are "so nearly the case that it can be regarded as so".

rsz_bear_crawl

gbear

Now it's time for the part where I explain that my problem isn't with bear crawls and tire flips. They are great exercises for building core stability (bear crawls) and explosive strength/power (tire flips). My issue here is with referring to them as having "practical carry over". They don't.

Before people start screaming "TIRE FLIPS ARE GREAT FOR FOOTBALL" and "BEAR CRAWLS ARE THE PERFECT EXERCISE FOR MMA FIGHTERS"; let me explain. The only time these exercises carryover into everyday life is if you are an athlete. The fact is most of us (and our clients) are not athletes or at least we (and our clients) are not anymore.

So lets do ourselves (and our clients) a favor. Let's stop falling back on catch phrases like "practical" and "functional". By misusing these words we're doing a couple of things. First off, we're assuming our clients are stupid. Only stupid people would believe crawling around on the floor is going to prepare them for their everyday life of office work and watching TV.

Secondly, we're making ourselves into nothing more than door-to-door salespeople. The only reason for the misuse of these words (that I can come up with) is to con someone into buying what you're selling. As I said, people aren't stupid so in the end you're the one that comes out looking foolish.

Don't stop using exercises like bear crawls and tire flips with your clients. Do stop lying to your clients about why you're using them. Learn what these exercises (and all others) are actually good for. Then learn how to communicate those benefits to your clients in smart, honest way.