Breaking Free from the Performance Trap: Athletic Fitness vs. Functional Health

Let’s Talk About the Real Impact of “Athletic Fitness”

I’m going to start this by saying that I’m not here to tear anyone down. I do want to challenge some of the beliefs we hold about fitness, especially the ones that might be pushing us in unhealthy directions without us realizing it. I’m not against athletic training—far from it. But it’s time we talked about the bigger picture and what it really means to pursue long-term health and vitality. So, with an open mind, let’s dive in.

The Myth of the Athlete as the Epitome of Health

We’ve all been there—scrolling through social media or watching athletes and on TV and thinking, “That’s what fitness looks like.” The lean muscles, chiseled abs, and seemingly superhuman strength. It’s easy to assume that these athletes are the pinnacle of health, but here’s the truth: many athletes sacrifice their long-term well-being for short-term performance gains.

Their training is designed for short bursts of peak physical condition—usually for a 10 to 15-year window. After that, many athletes deal with worn-out joints, accumulated injuries, and bodies that simply can’t keep up with the demands they placed on them during their prime.

Does that mean athletes are unhealthy? Not necessarily. But it does mean that using them as the gold standard for everyday fitness can set unrealistic and, sometimes, damaging expectations.

What You See is not What You Get

We also conflate our idea of a perfect physique with the appearance of Hollywood actors. Bodybuilders, fitness models, and Hollywood actors are not depicting a sustainable, healthy, or realistic example of ideal human physique. They all train in very unnatural ways with the goal of creating a temporary appearance to display on the day of their competition, photoshoot, or film shoot. On the day of their display, they dehydrate themselves use specific lighting, and maybe make-up or oil in order to make more of a show of their body's definition. What you see as the end product is not how they walk around all day, every day, and it's actually quite stressful for the body to create that appearance.

True fitness is not about looking a certain way. Being fit, means being of a suitable standard to meet a required purpose. To be fit for daily life means that you are able to walk, run, lift, carry, get up and down from the ground, climb a little bit, jump a little bit, and are capable of working with the necessary technologies that we must interface with to get around in society. That's right, from a real-world modern perspective, fitness is also about being able to navigate our technological and mechanical landscape.

In terms of health, fitness is about being flexible enough to move freely, strong enough to lift and carry moderately heavy objects, being able to walk long distances, taking care of your body in a way to prevent and remedy aches and pains, and making healthy lifestyle choices when it comes to diet, how you spend your time, and what vices you indulge in.

Considering this, true fitness, being about how your body is supporting you in your daily life, versus fitness culture, being all about how good you look in your bathing suit, couldn't be further from each other. If you're coming from a place where you're not doing any physical activity, fitness culture may begin as a parallel path with true fitness, as any activity is better than no activity. However, if you continue to train in extreme ways over a long period of time, eventually these two paths will splinter off. Fitness culture can then start to move in a direction that is counter to true fitness; away from health, and building the foundation for injury, immobility, and long-term dysfunction.

A Tale of Two Extremes

Let’s face it: most people who idolize athletic physiques aren’t athletes themselves. They’re stuck between two extremes—punishing their bodies at the gym for an hour and then sitting at a desk or in a comfy chair for the rest of the day. I’ve seen this play out with clients who thought they could out-train a sedentary lifestyle or poor eating habits.

Many of my clients work full-time desk jobs, but try to compensate for it with intense bodybuilding-style workouts most days of the week, then they relax by adopting the way of the couch potato. When clients like these come to me, often, their shoulder mobility is shot, and their back and hips are stiff. It isn’t necessarily the workouts that are the problem—it's the imbalance.

If you want real, lasting health, you can’t swing from one extreme to the other. Health is about finding balance, consistency, and making gradual improvements over time. It's about creating a congruent lifestyle that incorporates rest, physical activity, self-healing, and natural movement in daily life. Trying to make up for sedentarism with bursts of excessive high intensity training is not the way health works. It's not like working on a project where grinding away for a few days straight makes up for procrastinating for a few weeks.

Our health is about how we live our lives. It's like creating a wave. If you find a good rhythm between the ebb and flow, you get a nice consistent tide, but if you cycle between overindulging, over-disciplining, and neglecting everything, you end up with big inconsistent waves, and that's how people drown themselves!

Bodybuilding: Aesthetic Goals vs. Functional Movement

Bodybuilding is a great example of this imbalance. It’s a sport that’s all about aesthetics—creating muscle definition and size. The problem? It often sacrifices functional movement and flexibility in favor of appearance.

When you isolate muscles to build bulk, you disrupt the natural way your body moves. And if you’re following the typical high-protein, high-calorie/caloric-deficit cycles of the bodybuilding diet, you’re likely overloading your internal organs with stress, too. Sure, you’ll look great in the mirror, but what happens when you need to bend, rotate, or move dynamically in real life? That’s where many bodybuilders struggle, along with the sustainability of maintaining those "gains".

I’ve had clients come to me who couldn’t even touch their toes or perform basic movements because they were so focused on aesthetics that they neglected mobility and functional movement. It doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re into bodybuilding, that’s fine—but you need to balance it with practices that restore flexibility and whole-body strength, like mobility work and natural movement patterns.

Powerlifting: Strength with a Cost

Then there’s powerlifting, where the goal is to lift heavy. Raw strength, for sure. But lifting heavy weights compresses your joints and often neglects the rotational and decompression movements your body craves. One powerlifter I worked with had impressive strength but could barely rotate his spine and hips without pain.

It’s not about ditching the heavy lifts—it’s about balancing them with mobility, rotation, and decompression work. That’s how you keep your body functional and prevent those joints from grinding down over time.

If you're trying to compete professionally to be the strongest person in the world, then you making those sacrifices to your health might be worth it to your ambition, but if your goal is to be as strong and functional as you can, and sustaining that well into late-life, you might want to follow a more balanced path.

Combat Sports: Dynamic but Dangerous

Combat sports are a whole other beast. They involve much more natural movement—twisting, grappling, striking, ground movement. But they also come with a higher risk of injury. I’ve trained in martial arts for years, and I love the variety and unpredictability of combat sports. But I’ve also seen first-hand how easily people can hurt themselves by pushing too hard in training.

Here’s the thing: even professional fighters know that their training has to be dialed in so they peak at the right time. It’s not about going all out, all the time. If you’re training like a fighter, you should be spending just as much time on recovery, mobility, and avoiding unnecessary risks, as you spend on hitting pads, sparring or rolling on the mat.

I’ve seen too many talented martial artists burn out or suffer preventable injuries because they didn’t balance intensity with recovery. Don’t let that be you.

In Taisha Ryu Kenjutsu, a 450 year old living tradition of Japanese swordsmanship, there is an important principle of avoiding risks that may cause injuries in training. During times of war, when a Samurai may be required to go to battle at any moment, injuring oneself during training is a foolish and irresponsible risk to take. Likewise, training combat sports is partly about being prepared to protect oneself and others if the need arises, and if your training results in injuries that take months to heal, you are defeating the purpose of training to be prepared to protect what is important to you.

Running and Other Sports: The Natural, the Not-So-Natural

Sports like basketball, football, or running are great for movement variety. But they can be just as damaging to your body over time if you’re not mindful of recovery. I see a lot of recreational runners with knee, ankle, and hip pain from pounding the pavement day after day. If you’re not running on natural terrain or giving your body time to adapt, you’re setting yourself up for injuries. Even if you are running on natural terrain, long-distance running too frequently can do more harm than good, and it's easy to get carried away by the runner's high.

I always recommend reading Born to Run or checking out Katy Bowman’s work on barefoot running. Your feet are designed to move freely, not be locked into thick-soled shoes. But if you’ve spent your life in cushioned shoes, be careful—start slow and give your feet time to rebuild strength.

Remember: running shouldn’t be your only form of exercise. Incorporating squatting, rotating, lifting and other natural movements into your routine will keep your body balanced and strong.

The Real Problem with Fitness Culture

Here’s where fitness culture does us all a disservice. It glorifies this idea that shredded abs and bulging muscles are the key to health. But this image is unattainable for most people without intense, unsustainable training and extreme dieting. I’ve had clients come to me after following crazy diets like Keto, only to find themselves emotionally drained and physically exhausted.

Furthermore, the shredded, athletic appearance doesn't always equate feeling your strongest, healthiest, and most functional in daily life. Your aesthetic appearance is a reflection of your lifestyle, it shouldn't be the focal point of your motivation to exercise. If your goal is to be healthy, happy, functional, and feel good in your body, your appearance is going to shape itself to best support what you are doing with your life. If you try to reverse-engineer your appearance to match an idea you have in your head, your priorities in training will likely be disproportionate, and most definitely lead to some sacrificial imbalances.

Aesthetic goals alone aren’t sustainable. And if your training is about “pushing through the pain,” then you’re on the fast track to injury.

What’s the Solution? Self-Care and Consistency

If you really want long-term health, you need to shift your focus from aesthetics to self-care and natural functional mobility. It’s not glamorous, but it’s powerful. The truth is, many people don’t prioritize self-care until they’re in pain. As a manual therapist, I’ve seen it countless times. People come to me when their bodies are breaking down, then fall back into old habits as soon as they feel better.

But real healing doesn’t come from a quick fix. It comes from consistent, daily care. A simple, 10-minute mobility routine—just a few stretches or movements every day—can prevent pain, restore balance, and help you stay injury-free. You don’t need hours in the gym to see results.

Take it from me—whether you’re an athlete or someone just trying to stay active, those small, daily habits make all the difference in the long run.

The Tipping Point of Neglect

Ignoring your health will catch up with you. It doesn’t take a big event to push you over the edge—just bending to pick something up or a minor slip can trigger a cascade of problems. The root cause? Years of imbalances that have been building up. And yet, many still avoid consistent self-care, even when they reach a point where every movement hurts. They prefer to treat self-care as a temporary fix rather than a lasting habit.

The Tortoise and the Hare

When it comes to recovery, many take the “hare” approach—racing through self-care routines until they feel better, then abandoning them. When the pain returns, they wonder why. True healing requires a steady, consistent approach, like the tortoise. You can’t expect quick fixes or only rely on professionals to save you. Healing is your responsibility.

Start Now

Don’t wait until something breaks. If you’re feeling good now, that’s the perfect time to start incorporating self-care into your routine. And if you’re already feeling pain or discomfort, don’t rush to fix it all at once. Start small, stay consistent, and give your body what it needs to thrive.

If you’re training hard, remember this: treat your body with the same care as athletes do, and don’t let your aesthetic goals overshadow your long-term health unless that's a sacrifice that you feel is worth the outcome.

Here are a few YouTube videos that you can follow along with to help build a basic self-care routine. First, here's a hip mobility routine:

And here's a shoulder mobility protocol:

If you're looking for something a little more comprehensive, you can check out my online program called Ukemi Fundamentals. This course guides you through step by step as you build a baseline of mobility, functional strength, balance, and the injury prevention skills of breakfalls and rolling. Here's a video where I explain the course is deeper detail:

If you would like to learn more about the course and how to register, check out this link:

https://www.naturalmobility.net/ukemi

Please feel welcome to reach out to me with any questions or help with direction about where to start with your self-care journey, when it comes to finding balance in your life whether you're fairly sedentary, very active in a high intensity activity, or find yourself jumping from one to the other and stressing your body out.