In our modern society of convenience, our bodies are arbitrary and rarely require moving, or we must move in repetitive patterns. As a result, most of us experience fitness as meaningless. The treadmill or stationary bike is the ultimate symbol for this, as is lifting something heavy and putting it down again. Exercise in a society of convenience where we experience our bodies as an alienated “other” thereby becomes another to-do on an endless list.
Functional fitness puts some meaning back into the structure of our fitness programs by working with the mechanics of our human structure. But functional fitness is often still arbitrary — why become fit? Function for what? Answering “anything” is still too abstract. (more…)