I’m 46. I sit at a desk all morning, I attend CrossFit OldTown at lunch, then I sit at a desk all afternoon. It is a perfect blueprint for stiffness, soreness and post-workout pain. Which keeps me on the constant lookout for relief in addition to my daily mobility from Mobility WOD. I have tried so many ways, and I will pretty much try anything. Maybe you’ve tried some, or all of these. Perhaps there are even some that I haven’t yet thought of. So let’s review.
- Yoga
Of course I need yoga. It is the opposite of the workouts that I do, no doubt it could help. I’ve tried yoga; but it never takes. I am so completely inflexible that I easily get frustrated and don’t enjoy the slow struggle for progress. And while yoga is all about working at your own pace and to your own abilities, I cannot help but get caught up in how my neighbor’s downward dog is looking vs. my own. I assure you, theirs is better. So despite the promise of improvement over time, I cannot commit. Yoga is the aspirational equivalent of cleaning out the attic. Maybe tomorrow. - Thai Massage
There is a guy at our gym that moved away and got trained up in the art of Thai Massage.Is Functional Fitness For You?
It’s been just over two years since I walked into a gym for my very first WOD, and if you’re anything like I was in the weeks and months leading up to that day, you may have some conflicting feelings toward the functional fitness movement.
One of these might be curiosity – you aren’t getting the results you’d like from your current fitness efforts, you’ve read our CF Primer, and you’ve seen what the sport has done for friends, so why not you too?
On the other hand, hesitation – it’s a “cult,” or so claims your opinionated (but not-that-fit) colleague whenever the subject comes up over lunch. I’m often told that functional fitness is great for some but “not for me,” and while Athletes would argue that our needs differ not by kind but by degree, obviously the best fitness program in the world is useless if you don’t stick with it.
So how might you think about whether a functional fitness program is great for you?
CrossFit Primer: The ‘Sport of Fitness’
CrossFit, it’s all over the place these days.
Every neighborhood and surrounding suburb seems to have at least one gym, or “box” as they’re called – if not, plans are probably in the works as you read this article. And everyone has an opinion. People who CrossFit won’t stop talking about it. People who don’t, well, won’t stop talking about people who won’t stop talking about it.
So what exactly is it anyway?