It is interesting to ask people why they train. Usually you get some simple answers like 'I want to look good', when digging a bit deeper you can discover other reasons and deeper interesting perspectives like why a person thinks a certain look is better than another or how would it change their life if they did look a certain way.
Looking at the simple answers there are three themes that we usually come across, that can be present individually, or as a combinatio n of the three.
First theme, people that want to look good, and might not care about anything else but how they look.
It might seem shallow but who is anyone to judge? People have their own reasons in life, people been through different things, they might not even like to exercise, but at the end of the day they are willing to do the minimum or the maximum to look good.
You would see these people going to the gym or the cross-fit box to lift weights and get more muscle size. Or you would see them at the aerobics room trying to lose weight, or using the cardio machines.
Fundamentals Of Movement offers resistance training that will increase muscle size. Problem with other resistance type training is that muscle does grow, but it doesn't always look proportional. The work doesn't always distribute evenly throughout the body, and many times doesn't target the weaker less fun parts. With FOM it's always about body alignment for bodyweight resistance and real proportions will always be the results. Instead of only doing robotic moves which are more suited for rehabilitation, we actually get to have fun in the process, using real skills.
Second theme, people who want to be healthy, some might not care about how they look, but rather want only to preserve their body, so that they can happily live in it, free of any pains and disease, plus the doctors recommend it.
For this one FOM is a no brainer. Increasing mobility, giving attention to joint health, and building strength that applies to daily activities, will make any other life activity more rewarding. With whatever time limitation you might have, you could only learn how to Maximize the health benefits from your day to day activities by using your body correctly shopping for groceries, or learn how to better your posture consciously. The more time you invest in yourself the better your health will become following this specific system created for that.
The third theme we come across is people that want to be able to do a certain move, skill, or combination. These types of athletes are often performers at various levels of ability, as well as regular people who are fascinated by these abilities.
What these people sometimes forget, is to work on the conditioning side of things. Without strength, balance in the joints, and active flexibility, there will be more injuries in the process, which could take a toll on the speed of progression. Specific strength can help overcome plateaus in the progress, and help to increase abilities, so people can also improve beyond their current physical capacity. Strength also helps stabilize the joint preventing injuries, where Active flexibility will help absorb shocks sparing body tissue. Don't forget fat loss to get lean, and energy production systems.
With these the system is well equipped to mimic the type of strain a particular skill demand, and enhance that according to supercompansation/ adaptation principles.
Beyond the conditioning factor we also work with various skills that compliment each other.
- Floor acrobatics to enhance posterior shoulder and back health.
- Aerial skills to develop more pulling strength (opposite from pushing the floor during acrobatics) with apparatuses such as fabric, rope and gymnastics rings.
- Explosive skills for expression of power. We work on various balance work on the floor, as well as partner balance work, various strength and flexibility skills and the system is open for other types of skills that can be analyzed and enhanced through its principles.
FOM is accommodating, it is planned to fit the lifestyle of the practitioner, and maximize her results within the constraints of her time, abilities or desires. The door is always open for further growth and development. It has room for people who only want efficiency in their limited training time, as well as education for those who would like to invest more in their knowledge about these topics as the system is very comprehensive.