Functional Fitness: Functional vs. Dysfunction Exercise

[Explor­ing Life] One of the most impor­tant prin­ci­ples in a func­tional fit­ness pro­gram is the even, coor­di­nated devel­op­ment of the mus­cles. Unfor­tu­nately, many exer­cise pro­grams tend to treat mus­cles as if they exist in iso­la­tion. Strength exer­cises that iso­late mus­cles can be dys­func­tional with respect to the proper func­tion­ing of the body. Bal­anced mus­cle devel­op­ment is essen­tial to the proper func­tion­ing of joints. Uneven mus­cle devel­op­ment can actu­ally be the cause of joint mis­align­ment, which in turn leads to chronic inflam­ma­tion and even­tu­ally degen­er­a­tive dis­ease. Cather­ine Guthrie’s Knee Deep in Yoga pro­vides some impor­tant insight into the need for func­tional exer­cise with respect to the knees.

Dys­func­tional Fit­ness Orig­i­nates in Dys­func­tional Learn­ing: We tend to think of mus­cles in iso­la­tion in part because of our habit of think­ing in terms of analy­sis and clas­si­fi­ca­tion. Anatomy, for exam­ple, is often pre­sented as a means to iso­late spe­cific mus­cles and name their char­ac­ter­is­tics. The rela­tion­ships that exist between the mus­cles, how­ever, is largely ignored. Mus­cles work as an inte­grated and inter­de­pen­dent sys­tem in uni­son with all other aspects of our body and mind includ­ing joints, fas­cia, the ner­vous sys­tem, as well as our thoughts and emo­tions. To exer­cise under the mis­guided notion that mus­cles can be trained in iso­la­tion is com­pletely dysfunctional.

A core prin­ci­ple of func­tional exer­cise is that mus­cles work as an inte­grated system, they do not work in iso­la­tion. Exces­sive devel­op­ment of one mus­cle or group of mus­cles at the expense of oth­ers will lead to an imbal­ance in strength and coor­di­na­tion that can have a neg­a­tive impact on the body. The uneven devel­op­ment of the mus­cles around the knees is a prime exam­ple of how exces­sive mus­cu­lar devel­op­ment of the quadri­ceps, for exam­ple, can cause a mis­align­ment of the knee cap that in turn leads to inflam­ma­tion of the joint and even­tu­ally over time degen­er­a­tive disease.

This same prob­lem can be found in other realms of activ­ity. For exam­ple, the med­ical com­mu­nity excels at inter­ven­tion mea­sures designed to save peo­ple from the symp­toms of an imme­di­ate cri­sis, but is nearly silent with respect to deal­ing with causes and pro­mot­ing health. Our eco­nomic progress cre­ates things in iso­la­tion from the effects they may have on peo­ple and/or the envi­ron­ment. The nature of learn­ing through­out a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of human­ity is unfor­tu­nately mired in nar­row per­cep­tion and islands of expertise.

Dys­func­tional Fit­ness Leads to Degen­er­a­tive Dis­ease: Gutherie sum­ma­rizes the find­ings of a 2003 study pub­lished in the Annals of Inter­nal Med­i­cine that describes the prob­lems cre­ated by build­ing uneven leg strength:

Many vol­un­teers with strong quads also showed rapid car­ti­lage dete­ri­o­ra­tion. But there was a catch—many of those who had strong quads and expe­ri­enced a rapid pro­gres­sion of the dis­ease also had mis­aligned kneecaps, a small but sig­nif­i­cant impair­ment that inten­si­fies pres­sure on the cartilage.

Strength alone is there­fore not an indi­ca­tor of fit­ness. Imbal­anced mus­cu­lar strength is an indi­ca­tor of poor phys­i­cal fit­ness that can lead to degen­er­a­tion in joints and there­fore impaired flex­i­bil­ity and mobil­ity of the body.

If the mus­cu­lar con­trac­tion between the two sides of the knee isn’t bal­anced, the knee rotates as it bends, which makes the joint pull toward the stronger mus­cle. Over time, this wears down one menis­cus faster than the other and even­tu­ally dam­ages the bone the car­ti­lage protects.

Posture/Asana as Inte­gra­tive Approach: Yoga, effec­tively prac­ticed, nat­u­rally pro­motes the even devel­op­ment of the body, includ­ing mus­cles, joint align­ment, pos­ture, as well as hav­ing sev­eral ben­e­fits for the mind. The phys­i­cal aspect of Yoga is embraced by the word asana mean­ing phys­i­cal posi­tion of pos­ture. Cor­rect­ing mov­ing through a series of asanas encour­ages an even devel­op­ment of the mus­cles in the legs (and else­where of course) that results in cor­rect knee alignment.

Fun­da­men­tal to the cor­rect prac­tice of Yoga asanas with respect to the knee is to develop a clear and con­cise under­stand­ing of how the knee is designed, what it is really designed to do, and what it is not designed to do. With­out this under­stand­ing, any form of exer­cise we under­take may be dys­func­tional and lead to degen­er­a­tion of the joints, and even­tu­ally arthri­tis. Key prin­ci­ples of cor­rect knee motions are:

1. No hyper­ex­ten­sion of the knee;
2. No twist­ing of the knee;
3. No exer­cises while in a kneel­ing position;
4. While squatting/bending the knee cap is directly over the sec­ond toe and never passes the toes;
5. Be atten­tive to sub­tle sen­sa­tions since inflam­ma­tion and pain are always delayed;
6. Bal­anc­ing exer­cises are a foun­da­tion for healthy knees;
7. Devel­op­ing flex­i­bil­ity in the hips is essen­tial to rotat­ing the legs and there­fore sit­ting in cross-legged posi­tions with­out dam­ag­ing the knees.
8. All motion in the body orig­i­nates in the core area (lower rib cage down to upper thighs)- healthy knees require a strong and bal­anced core.

Func­tional Learn­ing is the Basis for Func­tional Fit­ness: Under­stand­ing the body and mind as an inte­grated func­tional sys­tem is the basis for func­tional fit­ness. Body and mind are not sep­a­rate enti­ties, they are a sin­gle uni­fied phe­nom­e­non that is in a state of con­stant motion and inter­ac­tion. Both body and mind must lit­er­ally be bal­anced and strength­ened evenly. Analy­sis and clas­si­fi­ca­tion are use­ful to the extent that they allow us to name things, but nam­ing things in the absence of their con­text and inte­gra­tion with other ele­ments is mis­guided. With respect to fit­ness, analy­sis and clas­si­fi­ca­tion can lead to degen­er­a­tion of the body. Func­tional fit­ness is there­fore about pat­tern seek­ing and devel­op­ing equa­nim­ity of body and mind.