Functional fitness means being ready for the challenges of the real world. With winter upon us, we examine the connection between the barbell and the snow shovel.
One weekend, my husband and I decided our front lawn needed to go. Short on money and sense, we grabbed pickaxes and shovels and attacked the mess of dying grass, weeds and dirt in front of our house.
Monday came, and both of us reported to our respective CrossFit classes, as usual. By the end of the week, I couldn’t sit in a chair for more than an hour before my back started to ache and pain radiated down my leg. My husband had to sit in his office chair with a pillow wedged into his lower back. We had to modify our workouts for weeks before our aching backs returned to normal.
The workout inside the gym wasn’t to blame—it was what we had done outside the box that caused our thankfully minor injuries. Like most CrossFit athletes, I take warm-up, preparation and proper technique seriously inside the gym. Yet I blithely spent two days doing intense physical work and didn’t warm up or think once about my form and body position.
When putting fitness to practical use, many people throw warm-ups and technique out the window. What if we put the same amount of care into our yard work as we did our deadlift? How many people actually know the most efficient way to shovel snow and avoid injury when clearing the driveway?