The tragedy of modern fitness
Our modern world is drastically changing us and not always for the better. We are all presently experiencing the de-evolution of the human condition. We've engineered movement right out of our lives and forced ourselves into sedentary lifestyles. We work from home. We work on screens. We order in. We shop online. We are sacrificing our health on the alter of convenience. We have unprecedented access to more information than we've ever had in human history but are not any healthier for it.
The health problems of modernity are directly related to the mechanized industrialization of everything. This can be seen historically with the shift away from the classical Natural Fitness modal to a more one size fits all approach. Over the past century gymnasiums (gyms) began to look less like small Olympic parks that emphasized a variety of environmental & physical challenges like running tracks, obstacles, free weights, and wrestling/boxing rings and were transformed to resembled more of the industrial zeitgeist of machine based production.
The result of this assembly line philosophy are gyms crowded with machines void of the life bringing multi-plane movement challenges that enabled us to build shelters, fabricate tools, and kill saber-toothed tigers. In the past physical training has been linked to human survival. However, after the introduction of mechanized and nuclear warfare the need to run, jump, crawl, lift, and fight became obsolete almost overnight. The inevitable result was that physical fitness was no longer a necessity for life or survival but an activity only for those lucky people that had extra money and time. And now as our lives become more automated by computers and machines the need to be strong, fast, agile or capable of self-defense has increasingly become less relevant, to our detriment. We are seeing new social and physical maladies popping up with each new generation. With every technological innovation there are causalities for the convenience it brings. Our health, that is built on our physical fitness, is suffering because we see physical training as either a leisure activity only to be participated in if one has the extra time & money or as a consequence for bad eating habits.
Our ancestral brains developed through intense environmental challenges enabling us to not only survive but thrive. It is precisely this lack of predictability that prompted our brains to adapt, grow larger and develop superior problem solving skills. Without fitness derived from the need for survival our brains have begun to shrink and lose elasticity and our bodies have grown increasingly diseased and frail. Over the years we've systematically removed the very things that made us healthy and gave us the ability to tame our environment. This has led to a weakening populace that doesn't remember how to hunt or play.
The more elastic and supple the body is the more useful it will be and the longer it will last. This type of athleticism is built through a proper balance of predictable and unpredictable training modes that more accurately reflects our ancestral survival way of life. Being committed to a general fitness practice that prioritizes being capable and adaptable for the purpose of living life to the fullest unlocks something primal and exciting within us. And it’s open to everyone! At ORTHDX (orthodox) our goal is to give everyone the opportunity to love the body they have and to get lost in the adventure of learning how vast their capacity for movement truly is. We reject the quick fix beech body tactics used by corporations that shame us into buying memberships and fitness subscriptions they are counting on we’ll never use. ORTHDX offers a community of adventurers that are young at heart, old souls and everything in between.
By reclaiming our Natural Fitness we can enjoy the adventure of movement and build a longer, healthier, and more fulfilling life. At ORTHDX every class, workshop, and personal training session is built upon this classical model from our ancestral past. The facility itself was designed for its members to develop their body’s elastic strength and spatial buoyancy through adventure and exploration. You will be amazed at how easy it is to enjoy fitness and movement in an environment that invites you to not only conquer yourself but also the world around you. Life is an adventure. We should train to enjoy it.
"It is a shame to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which our bodies are capable." Plato
