Adding Context to Exercise Part 2
As we continue our conversation about exercise and context of it I wanted to address running and olympic lifts.
Running:
Courtesy of Phil Knight, the running craze has been alive and well for a long time. Running has become an integral part of many people’s ideology around health and fitness. But is it right for everyone, no. While I think the ability to run is important to maintain. Running is not a golden exercise. There are many individuals whom running is not a great exercise for. These include individuals who are larger. NFL linemen don’t go for long runs, it would simply wear out their bodies and be too difficult to recover form. They use other methods to train their cardiovascular system. This training is also common in professional throwing athletes like shot putters. The point being, running isn’t for everyone. So then who is running for? If you are an athlete and your sport involves running, your training should involve running. Running, especially at high speeds is a skill that an athlete needs to develop. Now for us non athlete folks, running trains our aerobic and anaerobic metabolic systems. You can get this training stimulus in a lot of different places. You can swim, bike, cross country ski, dance, jump on a trampoline or whatever your heart desires. Running does have ground impact so for females trying to build and maintain bone mass, it can be beneficial. The point being, you don't have to run if you are working the same systems in a different way. Do what you like best.
Olympic Lifts:
These are lifts like the snatch, clean and jerk. They are really, really good at building explosive power. However, they are very, very complex lifts to do. They require superb strength and timing. These lifts are not for everyone. In fact, I rarely recommend them to even athletes since it takes a long time to learn impeccable technique. It is more beneficial to give them a less technically demanding exercise to train peak power. I also rarely recommend them to general populations as most people just want to get in shape, maybe lose some weight and get stronger. To take on training such a technically demanding lift just seems unnecessarily time consuming. Also, if you cannot lift your arms straight up overhead without your back extending, you should not be lifting in that position, let alone catching heavy loads and exploding through it. Leave the Olympic lifts for the Olympic lifters and go throw a medicine ball or jump on a box.
While these are not the only exercises that I feel need more context, to me these are the primary ones. When selecting an exercise always ask the questions what is it best for and what am I trying to get out of it and make sure that those match up. Exercises are tools to create adaptation, nothing more, so pick your tools wisely.
