Why Training Our Gait Cycle And Throwing Mechanics Should Be The Priority In All Exercise Routines

By: Alex Pennington April 2020

*After writing this, I must preface that even if you don’t believe in traditional evolution theory.  We do understand that through the study of Anatomy and Kinesiology, the body is shown to be significantly connected with the gait cycle and throwing patterns.  My intent is not to offend anyone so please take the time to do your own research on the topic.  Enjoy.

An important time in our past

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.  It is the one that is most adaptive to change” – Charles Darwin

To answer why throwing mechanics and the gait cycle are so important to health and exercise we must first dive deeper into our species evolution (Homo Sapiens).  Millions of years ago, when our ancestors had no choice but to survive by hunting animals, the musculoskeletal system began to adapt to this new lifestyle.  Before hunting, it is theorized that our ancestors were tree climbers and mostly foraged on plants and insects to survive.  Once the forests began to recede, our ancestors had to turn to other means of attaining food.  It took a long time (potentially millions of years) but the bodies of these ancestors began to evolve into efficient runners and throwers in order to become the most efficient hunters the world had ever known.  Running became a priority to not only chase down pray but also to escape attacks as well.  The better the runner, the more likely that humans survived.  Throwing became a priority because it allowed us to kill our prey from a distance, keeping us safe and allowing us to become stealthy with the attacks.  The more accurate the throw, the more likely they were able to have food.  To this day our bodies (Homo Sapiens) are very similar to these powerful slinging ancestors.  Our physical structures remain very similar in gait patterns and the shoulder anatomy itself is the same. 

What does this mean for us?

Once our past has been understood, only then can we proceed with an idea of how to fix dysfunctions and strengthen ourselves.  If our bodies evolved to run and throw, wouldn’t you think that these movements would important to keep tuned?  Just imagine if your dog never ran or went on walks.  What would happen physically to their bodies?  They would more than likely degrade at a faster rate and have an increase in injuries.  That’s not even mentioning the increase of other health-related problems, just the degeneration of their physical bodies.  So, might this be a similar scenario for us?  

Why traditional forms of exercise do not go far enough

So now that we have agreed that our current bodies were evolved to be efficient at running and throwing, why don’t we see fitness systems train in this manner?  The problem here begins from the early days of weightlifting and the importance of aesthetics to society.  “Stronger” looking bodies were first introduced to the mainstream in cinema, portraying bigger muscular bodies to be desired and portrayed to be better than non-muscular looking bodies.  Over time this got more and more pronounced, with the peak coming in the 1980s depicted from film stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.  These heroes got any woman, took out the bad guys, and were envied by all men.  This is what began the fitness revolution in bodybuilding and weightlifting, where exercise focused more on how you looked rather than the health of our bodies.  Instead of training to move and be athletic, we focused on isolating muscles to look a certain way.  In turn, we saw an increase in muscle strains, ligament tears, and herniated disks.  All for the sake of looking better, completely forgetting what our bodies evolved for in the first place.  

Other fitness systems also became popular during this time, including aerobics, yoga, and cycling.  These were in many cases practiced to help cardiovascular health and getting rid of unwanted tightness of the body.  But once again, these practices steered away from our bodies evolution to run and throw, and in turn focused on different means to accomplish certain goals.  Yoga has been linked to hip replacements, cycling with back problems, and aerobics with knee injuries.  

So, should you just run and throw to create a healthier body?

Now we are getting into the important questions.  As an experienced trainer and coach, encompassing senior clients to young athletes, I have seen and tested what works with this type of training.  In my opinion, it is not important for people to run and throw more, as much as it is to train and strengthen the muscle chains create movement within those particular patterns of running and throwing.  Technique is above all else the most important when strengthening the body, especially when we see dysfunctions (improper movement patterns) pop up.  The better the technique the more reinforced the proper movement patterns become, and in effect we see huge improvements in applicable strength, movement, and overall well being from individuals.  And this goes for most individuals, old, young, middle-aged, disabled, and people with varied kinds of physical health problems.  There is potential in everyone.

How should we train to strengthen these muscular systems and move better?       

The answer here is called Functional Patterns.  Functional Patterns is a training system that basis its foundation on the importance of posture, gait pattern training, and throwing mechanics.  Functional Patterns has been around for almost a decade and is now picking up major steam in the health and fitness industry.  FP focuses on strength training the movements of our gait cycle in every plane of motion.  One of the common planes that you will see in this training is the horizontal plane (forward, back, side to side).  Most exercise training solely uses the vertical plane (up and down).  To have the true functionality of our body, we need to be competent in combining those planes together.  This is where FP excels.  Think, do you only move your body up and down in one spot?  Then why should we only train that way?  Training your body to move better will not only lead you to become stronger, but also will take unnecessary impact off your body making you feel good.  Wouldn’t you like to move with ease and feel confident when lifting things?  Well Functional Patterns training may be your answer.  To learn more about Functional Patterns check out functionalpatterns.com and their YouTube page.  For a portal to find a Practitioner near you, go to https://practitioners.functionalpatterns.com/

The next level of fitness training is here, improve your movement, improve your health!