Are you fit enough to do everyday life?
We often hear about people going to the gym to build muscle and sculpt the picture-perfect body, but the truth is many of us don't have the time or interest to build the perfect body, we just want to be more active and healthy. In other words, we want to build a healthy work capacity.
Work capacity is our ability to do work. Work by definition is Force x Distance. That means you apply a certain amount of force in order to move an object or complete a task. Work Capacity is simply how much or even how long you can carry out or perform the workload. Going to the gym to build bigger muscles does not necessarily equate to helping you be more functional in your daily life. Doing heavy reps and then walking around and resting in between sets does little to enhance our ability to sustain activity in our daily lives.
Cutting the grass, running a chainsaw, mopping the floors, and washing the windows are tasks that require us to start the job and carry out the workload associated with that job until it's finished. This means we have to sustain work over a period of time. In order to become more functionally fit, it is important to incorporate movements and workouts that closely replicate daily living. Bending over to pick up a heavy bag of groceries, climbing a flight of stairs, loading and unloading a truckload of mulch, carrying baskets of laundry up the steps… these are the types of patterns and weight we want to incorporate into our workouts. On top of this, we want to set a goal of sustaining the pattern over time. This constant movement requires the most vital organ of our body to work and strengthen - our heart.
Linda and Merrill specifically use a piece of fitness equipment called the Kettle Bar, which was invented by Merrill himself. The Kettle Bar came to fruition because Merrill saw that building overall fitness and work capacity was the desire of not only himself but many of the clients he works with. The Kettle Bar can be used in many ways that replicate the movements that are often required of us in our everyday lives.
On our Rock Solid Families Podcast, Episode # 282, Merrill and Linda talk about work capacity, functional fitness for our everyday lives, and demonstrate how to incorporate the Kettle Bar into your fitness routine to increase your ability to perform everyday tasks.
Watch the podcast video here: https://youtu.be/YauadyydAJo?si=xLLuxzfKmIy-iyRb
For more information on the Kettle Bar and how to incorporate it into your fitness routine, visit https://www.kettlebarfitness.com/.
For more information on scheduling faith-based coaching or fitness classes with Rock Solid Families, please visit http://rocksolidfamilies.org.