By Taryn Strydom
In the developed world, the last century has seen humans become more and more sedentary. Void of the need to navigate challenging terrain, walk long distances, hunt, climb trees, or gather food. We no longer need to explore our physical potential in the primal ways which were once essential for our survival.
Our ancestors didn’t have the science of today, but they did have a philosophy… They needed to master their own bodyweight.
Your body is an extremely well designed machine; it is intricate and complex; it provides you with all the movement options you will ever need, and while it has the capacity to perform in isolation, its most optimal configuration is found when the systems within it work together.
Generally speaking, the muscles in our bodies have one of two jobs; stability or strength. In complete movements, both systems work simultaneously.
To perform a push up, for example, you need to stabilize the entire kinetic chain from hands to feet and produce significant force simultaneously. These are all good things for the shoulder joint which has a huge capacity for movement, but it comes at the expense of stability. Your central nervous system will only allow you to produce as much force as the joints involved are able to stabilize. So, if your goal is to increase strength, promoting stability through complete movements will also help you to increase your ability to produce force.
If you want to excel at any sport, you’re going to need strength and skill that you can use in a varied environment.
Bodyweight training exposes you to movement challenges and therefore creates movement options. A training programme limited primarily to exercises like bench presses, and bicep curls gets you strong in those positions. However, freeing yourself from the perception that you only have to lift weights and realizing that bodyweight training is not an inferior form of exercise for beginners, will help you develop a new training philosophy.
You don’t have to shift completely to bodyweight training but include some of it in your programme. The Calisthenics, Pilates, Functional Training, Parkour, Yoga, Boxing, CrossFit and MMA training regimes of this world all incorporate bodyweight training.
Bodyweight movements will give you longevity as an athlete. We should want to keep physically active our whole lives and bodyweight training enables us to train in a way which will promote the chances of doing just that. It is basically an investment in your physical pension fund.
Mastering your own bodyweight will maintain joint function and mobility, increase stability and develop strength. The added bonus of bodyweight movement during the COVID-19 Pandemic; is that you have everything you need for a varied training regime, no equipment necessary! You can start or continue with your training in the comfort of your home or garden.
Read more: Strong Like A Girl: Don’t lose it during lockdown
