Functional Conditioning at its best!

There is no better display of functionally conditioned athletes then what you see at the Olympic Games, especially the Summer Olympics.. Gymnastics, Track and Field, Wrestling, Beach Volleyball.. That's right, beach volleyball.. They run, jump, dive, twist, turn, have explosive power, and body fat in the single digits.. And you thought it was all about the bathing suits :) How about water polo? Try treading water for 60 minutes while mixing in 50 meter sprints every minute or so and having some other guy pounding on you trying to get the ball away from you.. Every event is amazing in its own right, although I think I'm still trying to recover from watching about 15 seconds of the men's synchronized diving.. Sorry, but that event is completely unnecessary and may even be morally wrong. What's with the skimpy bathing suits? Just awful....

But to me, the most impressive, awe-inspiring events that I watched were in the men's and women's gymnastics.. I don't know how many moves and routines I saw that, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe the human body was capable of it. In fact, I was so inspired by these Olympic Games that I decided I'm going to devote the next four years of my life to training to make the Chinese Olympic Gymnastics team for London 2012. I figure this was Yang Wei's last go 'round and there'll be an opening on the team.. My Chinese Olympic name will be Buck Lee and NBC will have all kinds of touching interviews and stories about me because I'll be the first 45 year old Olympian in gymnastics history. I just hope they don't have Mary Carillo interview me because she's more masculine than me and I'd be really intimidated..

To get my gymnastics career going I decided I needed some equipment. So I went to Lowe's and bought about $20 worth of PVC and fittings and built up my own pair of little parallel bars (parallettes) to practice on. Quick, fun, and cheap project. Then I went and found some exercises to try out.. The website for American Gymnast has tons of great info. With parallettes assembled and a bunch of cool exercises to try out I started practicing.. Was able to nail my L-sit and handstand but was less successful with the planche and pirouettes.. But hey, I have 4 years to get ready, right?

   

I'm kind of bummed that the Olympics are over. The Olympians are a true example of what it means to be functionally fit. They push the body to the extremes of strength, endurance, power, coordination, agility, mobility, stability, and mental toughness. The training we do at Dynamic Strength and Conditioning is designed to unlock the inner Olympian in all of us.. Take it from me, Buck Lee, future Chinese Gymnast, London 2012 ;)

All the best,

Kevin