The philosophy and science behind Nine Four Coaching is deeply rooted in the concept of Practical Fitness as defined and delivered by world-class doctors and coaches at Active Life
Practical Fitness is having the physical resources to do everything you need to do, and nothing more
It’s not practical to be able to squat 300# and not be able to pick up a bag of dog food off the bottom shelf in the market
It’s not practical to be able to climb a rope, but not be able to toss a ball with your kids in the backyard
Practical fitness consists of three constructs and with each construct, associated principles.
Construct 1: There is an order of value.
The ability to do certain things is more valuable than others and that value is unique to each individual person.
The things that are more important should always take priority of the things that are less important, understanding each individuals pursuits directs my what we initially test and retest and how we track if we’re making progress
Principle 1: Training with a moving spine is more practical than training with a stiff spine.
When we pick up an object from the ground in the real world our spine moves, when we walk and run our spine moves, when we load things into a truck our spine moves, when we engage in physical combat, our spine moves
And yet in the gym setting, where we are supposed to be training for all of these things, what do we see?
Lot’s of braced, straight locked up backs moving weights that a dynamic spine wouldn’t be able to…seems backwards, right?...so
We build strength from the ground up, using movements that require our spines to move
Principle 2: Training compound movements is more practical than training isolated movements.
Almost every human task outside of a gym requires a sequencing of muscles and muscle groups, not an isolated action of one.
It doesn’t mean we never do isolated movements (bicep curls, calf raises..) it means a majority of our work is done in a way that requires most of our body to work together.
A body that works together is more resilient and durable
Principle 3: Training single sided or using unstable weights movements are more practical than training both sides at the same time or using stable weights
Almost every human task outside of a gym requires our arms and legs to function independently of and cooperatively
Most things we pick up, push, pull or carry in life are unstable to an extent (dog food bags, plates, kids…)
If we are training to get better at life, why not train that way?
Principle 4: Include forward motion
Almost every human task outside of a gym includes forward motion, or at least intention (when was the last time you took a grocery bag and pressed it vertically overhead?...)
We walk, run, press, punch, and throw, in a forward direction, so, we need to incorporate that into our training
Stay Tuned for Parts II and III coming soon!
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