Since going Paleo my family has fallen even more in love with our grill. Paleo and grilling just work well together. The past couple of years I've even been stepping outside my grilling comfort zone more and more. Grilling things I'd never thought to have grilled before and trying new flavor combinations. I have to say I'm pretty thrilled with the results of most of my flavor experiments. In the past I'd never have thought to grill fruit, but it's amazing. Grilling fruit and adding it to traditionally savory dishes? Brilliant. Oh yes, and? New rule: every burger recipe for the rest of forever must contain grilled pineapple. OK, maybe more of a guideline. It's a seriously delicious combination though. This Smoky Grilled Pineapple Burger is always a crowd-pleaser at my house. It's not only Paleo, but Whole30, glutenfree, lower carb, and clean eating friendly. I promise you won't miss the bun! paleo, grilled pineapple burger, smoky
Disclaimer: Rage Fitness sent me a kettlebell and Dick's Sporting Goods provided me with the video below.
Why do I want to be fit?
The purpose of fitness in my life has evolved quite a bit the past few years. While fitness was once simply about burning calories, it's about much more these days. Yes, yes I'm focused on losing the baby weight right now, but I don't workout simply to get skinny. I workout so that I can run, jump, and play with my kids for years to come. I workout so that I can throw a 50 lb bag of chicken feed over my shoulder and carry it from the car. I workout so that I can haul a 60 lb hay bale across the field and throw it on the trailer. Our homesteading shenanigans demand that I'm able to work hard in my daily life. Unfortunately, since having Baby O, I'm not quite up to par for many of these tasks. Functional fitness can help me with all of that.
Fitness is about keeping up with this guy. |
What is functional fitness training?
To me, functional fitness is training for life.
Functional fitness training is a total-body regimen that uses multiple muscle groups in an integrated way to challenge the body to work as a whole. Functional fitness has a strong focus on core strength, flexibility, coordination, and balance.
It's basically the opposite of isolation training. Functional exercises tend to be multi-joint and multi-muscle exercises that replicate functional movements. The focus is on training the body to handle real-life activities in real-life positions instead of lifting a certain weight in an idealized posture as a gym machine does. Functional fitness is about teaching our muscles to work together instead of isolating them to work independently.
All of this works together to make us strong and capable for life. It can make everyday activities easier and reduce our risk for injury, and therefore improve our overall quality of life.
Sign me up...
My first venture into training with a kettlebell at-home:
Video courtesy of Dick's Sporting Goods. Special thanks to Chris Lindley!
I did 10 reps of each move to start and whoa, I'm feeling it!
My new toys
Shhh, if hubby is looking for his sledge hammer, you haven't seen it... |
Pull Up Assist System (Oh yes, I will get that pull-up in 2014!) |
Stackable Plyo Box |
14 lb medicine ball |
I realize that most people don't have to haul 50 lb bags of feed or 60 lb hay bales, but functional fitness training can help us all in whatever our daily tasks require! Bottom line: it's fitness for living, not living for fitness.
Could you use a little more functional fitness in your life?