As we go about our daily lives, many of us do not think twice about how we get from point A to point B. Our brains automatically process the thinking behind our movements so that we do not have to consciously think about every muscle, joint and ligament that is moving as we go about our lives.
Kinetic fitness is where exercise and the thinking behind movement overlaps.
“I would define (kinetic fitness) as functional total body movements where everything is working together to accomplish a task,” says Matt Wilson owner of CrossFit New Albany.
To better understand kinetic fitness, think of standing up from a chair. As you move from sitting to standing your body does not just do one movement, but a collection of movements. You use muscles from your legs, core and arms that work together to help you stand.
It’s important to think about movement on a deeper level and to incorporate kinetic fitness into exercise routines because it can help achieve fitness goals.
“Training multiple muscle groups at the same time leads to a combination of increased endurance and strength,” says Wilson. “It is a more efficient way to exercise and can be done in a shorter amount of time to attain better benefits.”
To better incorporate kinetic fitness into your exercise routine you need to understand the different types of kinetic fitness: closed- and open-chain movements.
Closed or Open?
Closed-chain movement refers to when the end of your chain of movement is connected to the ground or solid surface. In order to better visualize close-chain movement think of a push-up. When you go to do a push-up your hands and feet are connected to the ground, and the rest of the kinetic chains in your arms and legs move toward the ground, where the chain is connected, in order to complete the movement.
Contrastingly, open-chain movement occurs when the end of a kinetic chain is not fixed to the ground or solid surface but moving freely in space. Think of when you do a bicep curl, your arm is suspended in the air, and you are not using the ground or any solid surface to make the movement. Sure, you may be holding a dumbbell, but the end of the chain of movement is not fixed on the dumbbell-like in closed-chain movement. Instead, the dumbbell becomes an extension of the kinetic chain and moves freely in space with the end of the kinetic chain of movement.
Those looking to be more fit should incorporate closed-chain movements into workouts; due to the fact that it’s more likely to include multiple joints and muscles in movements. Closed-chain movements help overall joint health, balance and body awareness.
Whereas if you’re looking to improve a specific muscle group, add more open-chain movements into workouts. Open-chain movements tend to include one chain of movement at a time and allow you to truly work on the strength and flexibility of a specific muscle group.
Strengthening a Community
While it’s important to incorporate kinetic fitness into workout routines to improve overall fitness, you cannot improve until you find the motivation to work-out in the first place. Finding motivation to work-out can be very difficult, especially at the end of a busy day when it’s often more appealing to go home and relax than to go to the gym and sweat. However, this motivation can easily be found within the New Albany community.
In New Albany, it’s easy to gain support and encouragement from the community to get involved and incorporate kinetic fitness into a daily routine. Resident can participate in local group fitness classes – kinetic fitness can include a multitude of exercises such as rock climbing, CrossFit, yoga and Zumba. Apart from CrossFit New Albany, centers like the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany, 3Minute Fitness or Pure Barre offer an opportunity to forge community while getting healthy.
“Kinetic fitness is a different, fun and more efficient way to exercise. It creates faster and bigger results than other fitness alternatives,” says Wilson. “For us at CFNA, it is done in a group class setting that has been shown to create more motivation, build strong relationships and thus create an everlasting community.”
As explained by Sir Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion, an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Finding motivation for exercise can be difficult, but the New Albany community can be that outside force that gets you up and moving.
Sara Dowler is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
