Our next challenge starts January 3rd, and gym or no gym, we’ve got you covered!
We’ll be using the 7 classic foundational moves to bring you a challenge that will help you whether you’re conditioning for your favourite spring activity or applying yourself to a specific fitness goal!
So, what are these 7 moves?
1. Push (pushup and overhead press variations)
2. Pull (rows, chin ups and pull ups)
3. Gait (carries, walking and running)
4. Squat (enough said)
5. Lunge (split squats, walking lunges, front, side, back etc)
6. Hinge (deadlifts, glute bridge variations and good mornings)
7. Rotation (thoracic, core and hip twisting, resisting rotation)
These 7 moves are the foundation of most all exercises, so when you master these, you’ll be able to do practically any exercise! (plus, you can do them all without a gym!)
What makes these so important is that they’re functional for real life, and they make up every movement we do. When our training is functional, it promotes longevity and a high quality of life, since you’ll be able to breeze through your daily tasks.
For example, let’s look at gait. A lot of us get around by walking, and sometimes we might get knee pain, foot pain or hip pain after a long walk. Training for gait helps us build more efficient movement patterns, and also helps us build strength and endurance into those patterns so we can feel better when we walk.
How about rotation? Why train this? For one, rotation is part of a healthy gait! To get a smooth stride with that natural arm swing (unless you’re Molly Shannon in Seinfeld), the spine needs to rotate. And conversely, learning to resist a rotational force, like a giant floofy dog charging at you from the side, is just as important, especially when it comes to injury prevention.
We’ll be covering all these functional, foundational movements in our upcoming JanYOUary Kickoff challenge. We’ll start out with the basics, then we’ll slowly build on those and challenge you to get a little bit stronger each week.
Building a solid base is key when jumping into a new training program. When you can move safely and connect with your body, you’re less likely to injure yourself, and you’ll be able to train more consistently to build up that healthy habit of exercising regularly.
Join the January challenge now!
