When I first took the RKC certification in April of 2003, I remember then Senior RKC Rob Lawrence saying that if civilization ended tomorrow, a kettlebell would be a practical way to stay fit because you could literally travel with it and bring with you wherever you went. Let's take a different scenario ( a rather scripted movie like end of days scenario, I know), imagine if civilization ended as we know it. No more ruling government, no technology, no civil laws or courts; just bands and tribes of people trying to eat, survive and protect themselves from nature and others.
Here is the question I ask of you: Would your current methods of fitness help you?
Could you survive? Would you have the strength, power, speed, explosiveness, agility and mental toughness to stick it out and protect you and your family? If this answer is NO, you probably stick to a fitness regimen of Pilates, Yoga, walking and Richard Simmon's "Sweating to the Oldies." I don't have a problem with people doing Yoga, Piliates (although I do have a problem of people sweating to the oldies with Richard Simmon) or even walking. There are wonderful things one can learn from Yoga and Pilates, and walking of course is a pre-requisite for living. The challenge I have is with the mindset that by themselves Yoga and Pilates as a stand alone system are enough to prepare you for living in perilous times.
Let's take Yoga for example. I know some Yoga practitioners that can flat out perform some amazing things. Handstands isometric puh ups, incredible balancing poses that would make spider man crincge, and many more. The health benefits to learning how to breathe properly and let go of tension obviously are a plus. But let's go back to initial quesion. Would this be the best way to condition your body and mind for an "end of civilization" scenario. I would argue that it is not the best way. A way, yes, the best way, no! Long static yoga poses do little to increase the CNS's ability to recruit the muscular system in an explosiv way that would be required. Yoga also would not help you lift a 200 pound boulder out of the way to make room for setting up camp.
Now for Pilates! YIKES! I think there are many principles that are beneficial in Pilates such as long spine and creating length in your structure. But to dedicate the majority of you time to performing exercsies lying on your back or in a prone position seem rediculous in my book. If you do Pilated please don't e-mail hate letters because I am not saying you cannot do Pilates or that there in zero benefit, but to EXCLUSIVLEY use pilates as your only method for fitness is a huge mistake. The load (springs) you use in Pilates is not real in my book. Pick up a heavy deadlift off the floor or press something heavy overhead. Even swinging a kettlebell blows away any functionality claims that the Pilates people swear by.
The bottom line......if your fitness doesn't make you function better and perform better while standing on your feet....... you wouldn't survive long if civilization ended. Is your Yoga and Pilates giving you the real world fitness you would need to survive? I am fully confident that people who include deadlifts, RKC style kettlebell training, some sprinting or intense type of running, bodyweight explosive exercises and odd object/strong man training would do very well in the scenario I am talking about. That doesn't mean you shouldn't stretch, do Tai Chi, Z-health and other parasympathetic activities, it just means you should perform standing full body movements such as :
- Deadlifts and all of their variations
- Cleans
- Snatches
- Squats
- Presses (both horizontal and vertical)
- Rows (pull ups as well)
- Shouldering exercsies with all sorts of different objects
- Lunges and Stepping patterns
- Jumping
- Climbing
- Crawling
- Sprinting
- Throwing (this would be very important for killing food)
- and more......
Those would constitue the basic movements you would need to be able to perform well and with precision.
Power to us all! I certainly hope civilization doesn't end tomorrow :)
