I observed Schuver as he walked around the park barefoot without so much as a care in the world. Just like Frida Paris’s coordinated and controlled movements, he confidently struck a medicine ball against the ground several times. The action mimicked that of a person chopping away wood in the forest.
“In the gym, we end up performing ‘unnatural’ moves but FP changes all that,” stressed Schuver. “The exercises I do are designed to replicate natural movement and follow natural law. Think of it this way: you’re playing a video game and are designing your own superhero. You cure your pain and headaches, and the stiffness in your shoulders and lower back become a thing of the past. FP can very well be described as skill training. It is sport specific but the sport, here, is life.”
I asked him his judgment regarding working out barefoot.
“Exercising outside is best and being barefoot is the way to go,” he shared. “At first, it feels a bit stressful. There are sticks everywhere and the ground might feel hot, cold, or rocky. But after ten or fifteen minutes, your feet feel as if they’ve grown a new pair of shoes.”
Walking outside without a pair of shoes for protection also offers a great deal of health benefits.
Says Schuver, “FP is the only program that closely incorporates befriending nature in order to improve our wellbeing. No other exercise system can claim that… The earth is full of negative electrons that help your body become alkaline. Almost every disease thrives in an environment that has a high acidic ph. Our over-dependence on technology is making matters worse because our environment is, now, even more positively charged.”
Luke recommended that I turn off the router at night and switch my cellphone to airplane mode if I want to sleep better.
“Your sleep will improve. Cellphones are so advanced, these days. They give out crazy amounts of energy which results in a negative impact on our health. People who live near cellphone towers have a higher chance of developing cancer. We need to reduce our dependence on technology and stop chasing the next cool thing. Instead, it is important we return to nature and start taking care of their bodies. Just 15 minutes a day is a great place to start with grounding. It will eliminate pain and relax you.”
I actually followed his advice and switch my phone to airplane mode at night. I really am enjoying a better, more restful sleep.
Luke no longer does any weighted squats or lunges and certainly avoids a crazy amount of repetitions.
“I used to do lots of running lunges but that is as functional as traditional exercise can get,” Luke stated. “But running lunges can leave a terrible impact on the knees in the long run if you do too many of those.”
FP provided a solution to that problem too.
“The atlas lunge is more than enough,” he emphasized. “This sort of lunge teaches you to incorporate a small amount of hip rotation. Pain does not necessarily mean gain. If you feel pain and discomfort, it is probably because your body is subjected to unnatural moves. There really is no right way to do the wrong exercise. If you allow yourself to move naturally, your body will have the chance to heal itself.”
I watched Luke wrap a resistance band around a tree and performed a series of controlled pulls. He carefully rotated his spine, loosened his shoulders and turned his chest side to side. Next, he picked up a kettle ball.
“Extend your back, elevate shoulders, work your hips, and go into hyperextension safely because your moves respect your biorhythms,” he added. “You will definitely feel it. Add resistance with a band. The more variables you add in, the better your results. You have to keep your chest straight and rotate your thoracic spine. In regular fitness classes, instructors do not ask you to do that.”
According to Luke, traditional exercises should incorporate safer movements so people will return to class day after day without fearing injuries.
“You have to devise exercises that are good for people, and keep their bodies stabilized in a three-dimensional context, you know, like when you walk,” explained Schuver. “With FP, you stabilize your spine in the transverse plane while you move side to side. Most fitness programs have you perform moves where you’re stuck in a plane. You don’t actually move. FP changes that.”
Economics plays a major role in why that is the case.
“When it comes to traditional fitness trends, you’re only worth how much money you can rake in for them. Gyms are typically concerned with how much they can get out of people in exchange for the amount of space they occupy. The space, you might agree, is for rent per pair of feet. So, there’s not going to be enough room for you to move side to side.”
FP is different.
“Functional Patterns works with the opposite philosophy. We understand that you need more space to move naturally. We take the people-over-profit route. You will see fewer people in an FP gym. Imagine if all gyms did that, we would solve so many problems.”
FP concepts, as mentioned earlier, are dedicated to eliminating the problem of bad posture.
“When you don’t have the strength to hold up your spine, you will not breathe well. Once that happens, you will not feel oxygenated enough and you will age faster. We need to stop several times during the day and pay attention to our breathing.”
Luke proceeded to demonstrate his breathing exercises. Lying down on the bare grass, he expanded his ribcage and took in the fresh air.
“FP teaches people to expand their ribcage. Most people tense up and even forget to breathe in a natural pattern. That exacerbates stress. If you can just lie down, bring your tongue to the roof of your mouth, relax your neck and shoulders and just breathe, I guarantee you will derive a deeply therapeutic feeling. You have to release the tension that builds up during the course of the day.”
Luke used to be a vegetarian but his views on diet have also changed.
“Contrary to what they tell you, diet is not the number one most important thing,” he said.
I was surprised. For the number of years I’ve been training, I’ve heard trainers stress time and time again that in order for someone to lose weight they need to focus 80% on food and 20% on exercise.
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