When I threw out my back for the first time last fall, I hadn鈥檛 had a gym membership for years. 鈥淐ycling makes me fit,鈥 I鈥檇 reasoned, until picking up a small cardboard box laid me out for five days. I reconsidered my defintion of strength: I could ride a mountain bike for six hours, but could I get through day-to-day life without hurting myself?
Getting stronger not just for sport but also life is the goal behind kinesis, one of the newest trends in functional training, a workout performed on and around the dual-cable Technogym Kinesis庐 machine. The company’s design increases resistance as you move further from the machine, and unlike traditional cable systems and weightlifting, the 360-degree pivoting pulleys generate resistance in all directions. This enables the user to develop strength in almost any three-dimensional movement.
At , a kinesis gym in Santa Monica, California, owner Susan Howard says, 鈥淲e鈥檙e working on functional movement patterns that allow us to be more dynamic and efficient in everything that we do, whether it鈥檚 hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, picking up your child, or going up a flight of stairs.鈥 Howard calls her program 鈥渓ifestyle performance enhancement鈥.
Participants perform a mix of high-intensity speed, power, and agility work; with low-intensity movements for strength, flexibility, balance, and core stability. Attached by the waist to the cables, they skip, jump, and move side to side. They also do strength work like rows, lunges, squats, and presses, on and off the machine.
Kinesis appeals to the causual fitness crowd, but ironically, it may be serious athletes who need this kind of functional workout the most.
鈥淎 lot of times elite athletes who are only doing their sport get stuck in repetitive patterns in a single plane of motion鈥攖hink of someone riding a bike,鈥 says functional training specialist Dawna Graham, who teaches kinesis at in Boulder, Colorado.
鈥淔unctional training like kinesis moves you in three dimensions and helps you to achieve full range of motion in all your joints.鈥 This makes the body more efficient, able to recruit more muscle and power for the same amount of energy.
The other key element of kinesis is core stability. The core is engaged in every movement in kinesis鈥攏eeded to balance and stabilize the entire body in performing a single-arm pull, for example.
These dual benefits of mobility and stability facilitate power transfer from one part of the body to another in sports and daily functions. They鈥檙e also key to injury prevention.
鈥淪houlders, hips, and feet can get tight or injured from sport-specific training,鈥 says Erin Carson, fitness director and co-owner at RallySport. This tightness and muscular imbalance can make seemingly 鈥渟trong鈥 individuals vulnerable to injury from non-sport related movements鈥攍ike lifting a cardboard box.
That鈥檚 why ensuring optimal mobility and stability with a program like kinesis is the first step to building a stronger athlete, says Carson, who has applied this philosophy to conditioning elite athletes like Mirinda Carfrae, 2013 IRONMAN World Champion.
RallySport recommends kinesis once a week as a supplement to aerobic training, and at a lower intensity than CrossFit or boot camp, it won鈥檛 wear you out for your sport training.
At some point, Carson says, you will need to progress beyond kinesis to keep making strength gains鈥攂ut pure strength isn鈥檛 the point of this workout. Kinesis means 鈥渕ovement鈥, and the more of your life you spend in motion, the more you stand to gain by becoming more well-rounded and efficient in that motion.