GYM-FREE GAINS
Why moving your training away from the weights room gives you the outside edge
The UK fitness industry is in good health. It’s strong, it’s powerful and – like Dwayne ‘ The Rock’ Johnson’s arms – it just keeps growing. According to the latest figures from independent analysts the Leisure Database Company, gym memberships in 2016 were up 5.3% year-on-year. That means a recordobliterating 9.2m Brits are gym members. And if you’re one of them, you’re wasting your time and money. Whether you want to craft a hard body, secure your long-term health, or both, you’d be wiser ditching the gym and making your training functional. Not functional in the sense that it’s a means to an end – repeated action in pursuit of a goal. But functional in its purest sense: that it will enable you to actually do stuff. A body manufactured in the weights room is essentially an unnatural one, with muscles that bulge in the centre – a product of linear, up-and-down movements such as biceps curls, which create a swollen aesthetic that hasn’t been cool since Arnie’s Generation Iron. A functional physique, however, has long, toned muscles that are as thick where they meet your joints as they are in the middle. Just look at the calisthenics guys down at the park – they’re twisting their bodies through every plane of motion, and the result is a balanced body. It’s more attractive, too: survey after survey reveals women prefer athletic bodies that look strong and able, not like they’ve been inflated by a pneumatic pump. To forge a better physique, forget about dividing your week by anatomical area – arms day, chest day, legs day, yawn. Instead, over the course of a week, incorporate three types of training 1 . The first is for balance: controlled movements that engage every muscle in your body, be that through yoga or rock
climbing. The second is endurance – swimming, running or cycling for an extended period of time. Finally, you need an explosive practice that requires you to twist and turn, move up and down, from side to side. Sports from football to squash to parkour requires this sort of dynamic movement. Incorporate all three and you’ll acquire a well-rounded, proportional body that not only looks better with your kit off, but helps clothes fit better, too. You won’t be restricted to a tracksuit by superfluous bodybuilder bulk, but you will have the shoulders to fill out a suit. Your newly functional body will also improve your health. The endurance work boosts cardiovascular strength and burns body fat, distancing you from the growing obesity epidemic. Meanwhile the fullbody balance and explosive activities engage not just your visible muscles but your fascia, too – the band of connective tissue that stabilises muscles and joints, and keeps you mobile into your later years 2 . Fitter, leaner and stronger for longer – you don’t get that on the bench press.
For so many people, keeping fit has become little more than a chore they feel obliged to perform. But functional is fun. Turn your training into a game and the six-pack will come as a bonus 3 . There’s a phenomenon known as ‘folded fin syndrome’, which describes how whales, when kept in captivity, develop droopy fins. Why? Because instead of using their muscles to cross oceans, they’re bobbing around in a tank. The same applies to us: sitting in chairs, sleeping in beds, walking in thick-soled shoes, our bodies become less functional. They flop, they sag. You are an animal. Don’t pay for the privilege of being cooped up in a gym. Get outside and use your body as nature intended.
“Turn training into a game and the six-pack will come as a bonus”