The outdoors brings the opportunity to get dirty, run hard, and prepare your body for the experiences you deal with in the Air Force.
Break out of a routine workout and have some fun. Functional fitness is an approach to getting fit that focuses on what your body faces every day. For most people, that means being able to carry groceries without injuring your back, swing a hammer, or effortlessly be on your feet all day, rather than being very good at using a rowing machine (for example). For people in the Air Force, of course, those needs are a little different.
“It’s more than just looking after the body,” said Chief Master Sergeant Brian Denny. “It’s trying to be functional in looking after the body.” Denny is the Senior Enlisted Advisor for the 5th Force Support Squadron at Minot AFB in North Dakota.
It’s about training for life.
Functional fitness pushes you out of the gym and into situations that help your body prepare for what it’s meant for. Our bodies, Denny explained, are made for traveling long distances or for hunting and hauling back meat. Being in the gym can help you train, but again, a rowing machine doesn’t help.
What’s interesting, is that a lot of functional fitness can be found in outdoor activities – hiking, skiing, or biking outside. They’re fun activities that most of us do anyway, but if you look beyond the fact that you’re having fun, these activities are a great way to stay in shape. It sparked, among other things, Denny’s love of obstacle course racing (OCR) races. These races are held outdoors with challenging obstacles. You get dirty, you run hard, but you’re also preparing your body for the experiences you deal with in the Air Force.
And, to really help keep things fun, what functional fitness looks like depends more on where you are more than anything else. When Denny moved from Texas to North Dakota, there was a change in what was possible.
“You take your whole life and shift it,” he said. Suddenly, it wasn’t just running and hot weather sports. His world opened to all four seasons and the activities that come with it, like snowboarding and skiing. “We took the climate we were in,” said Denny,” and had some fun with it.”
Learn more about the outdoors in your area
The challenge though can be getting started. Knowing where to go can be tough if you’re new to an area. That’s where the Air Force Outdoor Recreation (ODR) comes in. There are 97 ODR programs around the world offering activities from SCUBA to dogsledding and everything in between.
“It’s fairly easy if you know where to go,” he said. “And you rely on the resources that are available to you.” The folks at ODR know the areas they serve inside and out and they have the equipment you need to get started with just about any kind of activity you’re interested in. Not only that, but they can act as your support squad to help you stay motivated. “Most people need someone to help. We need a community,” said Denny. “It’s more fun when you have a community.”
Sal Salinas, AFSVC Outdoor Recreation Program Manager, could not agree more. “Across the Air Force we have hundreds of highly trained outdoor professionals to help safely introduce Airmen, Guardians, and their families to new and exciting outdoor activities and adventures,” said Salinas, “You take an Airman from a big city or the coast and drop them in the middle of Colorado or Utah and a whole new world opens up. ODR pros are there to help with support, skills, and equipment.”
Since Denny’s recent move from Central Texas to North Dakota, he has explored many new opportunities thanks to the ODR program. Along with knowing what’s possible in the area, they can help you get past any doubts you may have, provide a bit of training, and make sure you have fun. “You’ve got to drop the idea of who you are,” said Denny. “Be open-minded, do your research, explore, and have fun.”
That’s how functional fitness helps. It makes getting fit fun and helps you explore areas you may never have considered before, both in terms of the activities you’re doing and how you’re training your body. “What you find with functional fitness is you’re diversifying what you’re doing,” said Denny. “It becomes fun, exciting.”
Functional fitness is great for everyone, but if you’re one of those people who isn’t super fond of the gym, or the atmosphere that’s found in most gyms, then functional fitness is ideal. “People who don’t enjoy gyms, enjoy functional fitness,” said Denny. “The adventure and recreation play a big part of it.”
Your best bet, according to Denny, is to explore your options and find what gets you moving.
“Get out, get up, and get moving,” said Denny. “It’ll change your life.”
Discover Air Force Outdoor Recreation where you are. Visit https://afoutdoors.com or, your installation or Force Support Squadron website.
