Fitness Jenga

If you like terrible metaphors as much as I do, you’ll love this. Human performance is one giant game of Fitness Jenga. You know the game where you slide out mini-boards from the bottom of the pillar to make it taller?

Stay with me.

Extremely capable athletes have tall Jenga towers. NFL star, J.J. Watt? Very tall tower in Fitness Jenga. Usain Bolt? Insanely tall. In fact, it’s nerve racking how high his teetering structure stands. 

Fitness Jenga is a bit different than the board game we’ve all played in that we can actually fill in open slots in our base. When athletes have a uniquely specific athletic ability, they’ve often built a tall structure with holes in the foundation. Impressive? Yes. At risk to explode? You bet.

For example, if you can run a sub-six minute mile, you’re also the proud owner of a sweet tower of Fitness Jenga. But, if you also can’t hold a handstand or deadlift twice your bodyweight, you may have some holes in your game that may put you at risk to topple over.

Luckily, the broad application of our General Physical Preparedness (GPP) program does exactly that. We’re solidifying a base. Regardless if you’re a fitness novice or have some specific mastery (like an arm wrestling world champion), GPP training puts little Jenga boards in places that they’re missing.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach