How Health & Fitness is Evolving

In the 70’s and 80’s we had jazzercise and aerobics, the 90’s saw the rise of the home gym assembled from various home shopping channels and the last decade has seen Spin, yoga and Zumba all become the norm in regards to exercising. Health and Fitness is always evolving- so what’s next?

It’s time to ditch your restrictive gym training program and get outside! Bootcamps have been around for a while but there’s a new wave of outdoor exercise that’s stepping things up about ten gears. We asked Neat Ambassador, Tom Kemp – founder of FarmFitness – why thinking differently about training could do you wonders:

“Growing up and working on the family farm, I always found it a burden carrying sacks and pushing wheelbarrows full of concrete up and down the farmyard. If I had looked at these tasks as training I might have thought it was cool instead of tedious manual labor. It’s activities like this we don’t even consider a workout that can keep our bodies physically fit and was the very early inspiration for FarmFitness.” Tom states.

Farm Fitness is a great example of how health and fitness is changing. It’s a back to basics approach to exercise designed around everyday strength gained from functional human body movements performed at a high intensity. An example of how Farm Fitness works?

• Pulling a truck/large tire 25m instead of your average 3x10-12 reps on gym based rowing exercises
• You may have trained with battle ropes but the next level is battle chains: a heavy duty alternative to your generic ropes
• Jump and climb obstacles, lift, push and pull objects you thought you never could

Tom used to be into traditional gym goers exercises: “From my early teens I’ve enjoyed lifting weights, and I’ve gauged my strength by what I could lift on exercises like the bench press and squat. However, when I began working and training more on the farm I realised that there is more to building strength than fixed machines and free weights.”

Just walking with heavy materials in hand, or dragging or pulling cars/objects for a certain distance provides a change of intensity and varies the session from a typical muscle building weights workout. Tom explains that at the end of a FarmFitness workout, you get a sense of how exhausting these exercises can be and how much muscle they actually recruit. 

If you find spending long durations on treadmills, gym bikes and rowing machines boring, an outdoor workout could be the game changer that your workout needs. Perform weighted corn sack carries at max intensity as part of a HIIT circuit, to get your heart hammering in your chest by creating an extreme demand for oxygen. The majority of other similar non-traditional exercises executed at high intensity will provide an awesome workout and you’ll have a ton of fun doing it.

Something Tom strives for during FarmFitness sessions is pushing people to the “red zone”, meaning you’ll be working at near maximum intensity - ideal for melting body fat and improving CV fitness. Once you’ve climbed a rope and pushed and pulled a weighted prowler, it’s hard to go back to restrictive fixed machines. Take a look online and see what’s out there in your local area that will train you with a similar intensity, or make a trip out to visit FarmFitness.

“Working out outside can be as advantageous to the mind as it is to the body.” Tom believes. “There’s something about training outside (lifting tyres, climbing ropes, monkey bars, jumping bales, striking a tyre with a sledge hammer, throwing objects), that is liberating and leaves you feeling unstoppable. The fresh air makes everything seem that little more natural and the primal sense of accomplishment you feel when you’re finished will help boost self-confidence.”

So the headlines: what’s great about FarmFitness and training outdoors?

• Suitable for all fitness levels and both men and women
• Outside training in a natural environment battling through all weathers.
• Efficient and effective workouts with high-intensity training
• Fresh and unique workouts every time to keep things exciting
• Functional movements and exercises
• Regressed Strongman exercises
• Improves strength and cardiovascular endurance
• Builds muscle and shreds fat
• Develops mental toughness