Author: Willem

Many, when they start their exercise regiment, they start with running --in my opinion, this is the worst thing you can do. Every time your foot hits the pavement you're hitting your tissue with a force that equals about 8 times your body weight, and if you don't have the muscles to protect your joints, you're in trouble.

Many believe that we humans are designed to run, particularly run long distances -- let me make a case as to why I think this is wrong.

When comparing humans to other animals, a few differences pop-out immediately: we walk upright, and we sweat. Being upright means that our ability to accelerate forward is very poor, but it also allows us to generate incredible force upwards and move forward efficiently. The sweating allows us to cool our body effectively and support our ability to move continuously -- in fact, we're so good at this, that our species has the best endurance out of the whole animal kingdom.

Now all of this seems to lend itself towards humans having good running economy, but actually, we don't -- we have a good walking economy, as running tends to favor more explosive muscles (which tire quicker) whereas walking allows our body to flow optimally. Running tends to also favor anaerobic metabolism which can cause issues long-term, walking however is completely aerobic (using fat for fuel).

Because of our bipedal nature we are also the only species that can carry. Unlike running, carrying has a very strong strength-component to it, as well as a conditioning component -- but, the peak force on your joints is far lower. What's even more interesting about carrying in comparison to lifting weights, is that you train your ability to be upright which has a massive carryover to life.

Another benefit of carrying is that it tends to favor slow twitch muscle fibers that are far more durable than their fast twitch counterpart -- this results in an ability to do more with your body without tiring.

Beyond the muscle-strengthening, carrying is also fantastic for the heart, as the added load to the body will challenge the bloodflow. And, it strengthens your breathing muscles as the ribs & diaphragm have to work harder to contract.

Lastly, there is an obvious benefit to your daily life as we often carry things like groceries, furniture, kids etc. and being able to carry heavy makes these activities less straining.

For more information on the benefits of carrying, feel free to click on the link down below

The many benefits of rucking | Peter Attia and Michael Easter - YouTube

Before I dive into the specifics, you must first ask yourself why you train, and why functional fitness to be precise. If you know what you're doing it for, everything will start to make sense.

In my opinion, we train because life nowadays is too comfortable -- our body isn't getting enough stimulus to function optimally. Lifting weights keep you strong & capable -- it maintains bone density, strong muscles, stable energy levels and so forth.

To take this a step further, you have to ask yourself how our body is designed, and in particular how it is designed to move. Your body is what they call, a biological system, and in this case 'biological' simply means ''to respond to it's environment''. The functions of your biological system have evolved over millions of years. Both your physiology and psychology have had to problem-solve under pressure and your current biology is the result of this.

Now zooming into training, you can ask yourself, what aligns best with my biology, a barbell or a sandbag? What will allow your body to function at it's best, whilst mitigating risk, and all the while having a large carryover to life. Sandbags are messy and teach your body to stabilize under load, whereas barbells allow you to cheat and potentially hurt yourself.

Without getting too technical, when it comes to biomechanical forces being applied to the body, there is a fundamental difference between the two pieces of equipment; one shifts tension towards the inside, and the other towards the outside -- a sandbag creates internal tension and a barbell tends to open-up the body.

Now zooming out again; visualize yourself in a forest, having to survive for a month. Whenever you lift & carry a natural object, are you more likely to require the body to turn inwards or outwards? What happens to the tension in the body when you lift a block of wood, a stone, a dead animal or a jug of water?

Realistically, the only time in a natural environment that you will have your body open itself, is when you jump or throw. And when doing so, you move quickly and mostly concentric (lengthening of the muscle under tension) -- beyond that, you will very likely not be dealing with a heavy load.

Scrolling forward to the 21st century, your average gym bro will be using dumbbells, barbells, bars & machines which all miss a critical component; the internal compression that happens when you're trying to hold onto a big awkward object. Training in this way, results into tight hips, a locked-up lower back, and an overreliance on generative muscles (see other blog post).

Playing devil's advocate, if all you want is big muscles, and/or target very specific areas, using machines & barbells can be the better choice. If however you want to move well, pain-free and over a long-time, ditch the barbell and get yourself a sandbag.