I’ve been an athlete my whole life. With a physical education teacher for a mom and a five-sport father, I was swinging a golf club and shooting a basketball soon after I started to walk. As young children are in their first few years of life, they are very functional in everything they do. Have you ever paid close attention to a young child (as young as 18 months old) squat down to pick up a toy? Their form is amazingly good for someone who’s never been told how to do a squat, or much less even understands what most words even mean yet. They even hang out in that squat position for minutes at a time playing with that toy, like it’s their job. A lot of adults can’t even bend over to tie their shoe without having to sit down first.
Better yet, pay close attention next time a little guy takes off running down the sidewalk (3 to 5 years old is the best). His arms are smoothly swinging with proportion. Look at his body from a side view. His entire body from the ankles up is a straight line that’s correctly leaned forward with a grade between 5 to 10 degrees as he runs. His core is engaged, but he’s not hinged at the waist at all. His feet are not heel striking, nor is he running on his toes. It’s a comfortable combination between the two. Check out this picture of my nephew running a race last year when he was 4.
Better yet, pay close attention next time a little guy takes off running down the sidewalk (3 to 5 years old is the best). His arms are smoothly swinging with proportion. Look at his body from a side view. His entire body from the ankles up is a straight line that’s correctly leaned forward with a grade between 5 to 10 degrees as he runs. His core is engaged, but he’s not hinged at the waist at all. His feet are not heel striking, nor is he running on his toes. It’s a comfortable combination between the two. Check out this picture of my nephew running a race last year when he was 4.
My brother-in-law is an accomplished Ironman tri-athlete and my sister has completed a Half-Ironman. My nephew is a 5 year old who’s an accomplished 1-mile fun run racer. An 8 minute mile has never been so underrated. Watching him run is a beautiful thing. It’s not because his parents jam his tiny brain full of running tips and techniques. It’s quite the opposite actually. The little guy instinctively runs with such good form. It’s all for fun and his parents just run next to him in these 1-mile races because, well, he’s only 5. Yes, his running style is energetic and care-free partly because all his little muscles and bones are young and fresh. That’s one thing we cannot totally control about ourselves as adults. I use the word “totally” because we actually can control it partially if we invest time and money in the latest good muscle health practices. I’ll get into plenty of that in the near future. But the fact is that time goes on and things grow old. However, in large part he runs so effortlessly because he’s doing everything functionally and correctly. Now that is something we can always control as adults. It won't be easy, but it's very attainable and realistic. Nothing great was ever accomplished without some sort of sacrifice or hard work. In this case, it‘ll take both of those. Not to mention patience, determination, focus, an open mind, and creativity.
You will hear me use the word functional often. I, myself, define functional as “the exact way things are meant and supposed to be done“. There’s no cheating on form, no maxing out, and it doesn’t mean doing as many reps as possible in a certain amount of time. All those things are great if you’re trying to beat your friends’ times or number of reps in workouts. But the downside is this will leave you in pain with loads of unnecessary muscle soreness for days. To me, the word functional means solid form no matter the movement. Functional is sitting in a chair correctly with the proper lumbar curve in the lower back. Functional is bending over to pick up a child while using your legs, instead of your back. Functional means injury-free. Muscles should be prime and pumped after a workout, not incredibly sore and destroyed to the point where you can barely walk or get out of a chair. In my opinion, those extreme workouts should only be done by the experts (professional athletes, military, public service like firemen and policemen, etc etc). You’ll notice that none of these studs I’ve mentioned will be found sitting at a desk 40+ hours a week. They’re constantly moving, active, and on the go.
That’s where we are very different…..the part-time athlete who sits at a desk full-time. We’re desk jockeys living the rat race. Day in, day out. It doesn’t matter how positive-minded and grateful we are, or even how much we love our life. Sitting at a desk will take a major toll on our existence, but that’s only if we let it.
HSH Athlete of the Week
This week's athlete of the week is good old mom (aka Peggy Bowen, Mom-Mom, and Mommarazzi). That's right, she's tough with her high speed action-sport camera. She captures everyday sporting events like no other and turns them into permanent memories. She took the picture of my nephew above and the picture of me below.
You will hear me use the word functional often. I, myself, define functional as “the exact way things are meant and supposed to be done“. There’s no cheating on form, no maxing out, and it doesn’t mean doing as many reps as possible in a certain amount of time. All those things are great if you’re trying to beat your friends’ times or number of reps in workouts. But the downside is this will leave you in pain with loads of unnecessary muscle soreness for days. To me, the word functional means solid form no matter the movement. Functional is sitting in a chair correctly with the proper lumbar curve in the lower back. Functional is bending over to pick up a child while using your legs, instead of your back. Functional means injury-free. Muscles should be prime and pumped after a workout, not incredibly sore and destroyed to the point where you can barely walk or get out of a chair. In my opinion, those extreme workouts should only be done by the experts (professional athletes, military, public service like firemen and policemen, etc etc). You’ll notice that none of these studs I’ve mentioned will be found sitting at a desk 40+ hours a week. They’re constantly moving, active, and on the go.
That’s where we are very different…..the part-time athlete who sits at a desk full-time. We’re desk jockeys living the rat race. Day in, day out. It doesn’t matter how positive-minded and grateful we are, or even how much we love our life. Sitting at a desk will take a major toll on our existence, but that’s only if we let it.
HSH Athlete of the Week
This week's athlete of the week is good old mom (aka Peggy Bowen, Mom-Mom, and Mommarazzi). That's right, she's tough with her high speed action-sport camera. She captures everyday sporting events like no other and turns them into permanent memories. She took the picture of my nephew above and the picture of me below.
Peggy Bowen is a retired physical education teacher and keeps up with all of her "oldies" on Facebook. My sis stole her camera from her at one of my nephew's soccer games and gave her a taste of her own mommarazzi-ness.
Have a great weekend y'all! Love ya mom!
Todd Bowen
High Speed Health
www.facebook.com/highspeedhealth (<----LIKE me)
Todd Bowen
High Speed Health
www.facebook.com/highspeedhealth (<----LIKE me)
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