FitSpace

Exercising is very often presented to us without context. Here's an example from a recent Consumer Reports article: The perfect pushup. Of course this is a 'device' that one can buy and use to perform pushups.

I often think of FitSpace as everything around the pushup (see image). It's the stuff that happens in the white space behind, above and beneath the person doing the exercise. And to go one step further, FitSpace is also the 'time' around the exercise, or how the exercise might fit into one's daily routine.

I've recently been feeling that I've lost upperbody strength; a result of my current regimen which does not include a lot of strength training and I need to build this back into my daily routine. Several weeks ago I struggled to bust out 10 decent pushups. So, as a kind of experiment I've decided to hit the mat everyday (not at a set time but rather whenever I think about it) to do one long set of pushups until failure (as many as I can do continuously). This is not a 'workout,' and I can do the work wearing whatever I have on (even a shirt and tie). After a few weeks I'm up to 31 pushups and will continue until I hit 100 (if possible - we'll see). This afternoon, 31 pushups took me 1:15 (one minute and fifteen seconds). That's a pretty insignificant part of my day yet clearly I'm building strength OR at least increasing my bodies ability to complete more pushups. Quite simply, your body will adapt to whatever work you do. As I like to say in my cycling classes, 'your mind leads and the body will follow.'

The context of FitSpace supports active living which contributes to increased strength, flexibility, and range of motion. Ideally this 'support' permeates aesthetics, use or function and daily ritual in our homes and daily lives.
The image above is again from a Consumer Reports article entitled 'Home Gym for Under $100.' I have all of these things in my home and admittedly haven't done a very good job of integrating them into our space. I've designed a piece of furniture to hold weights, bands, mats and a medicine ball but haven't yet built it. The intent is that this stuff is never more than an arms reach away and can be used to fill in the gaps between your favorite t.v. program, or used for a few minutes in the morning and a few minutes in the evening. We've seen in another posting that 2 x 15 minutes of training can be equally or more beneficial than 30 minutes. Ultimately, a FitSpace would provide storage solutions, proper spatial configurations and a little inspiration to utilize the type of items above. Moreover, the design of space itself could support increased activity (stairs, rock wall, pullup bar(s), etc).