What are the special fitness programs?

The core of the specialized fitness projects we often talk about is designed around the improvement of specific sports abilities, specific occupational needs, specific body part strengthening, or the rehabilitation needs of special groups. Currently, there is no completely unified classification standard in the industry. The most common categories are strength specialization, endurance specialization, agility coordination specialization, functional rehabilitation specialization, and occupational adaptation specialization. There are also many projects that span multiple categories, and there is no absolute boundary.

Speaking of which, you may think that special fitness is something that only professional athletes will touch. In fact, it is not the case at all. Ordinary sports enthusiasts actually come into contact with many things on a daily basis. I have a brother next to me who has played amateur badminton for 8 years. He always suffered from shoulder pain before, and he didn’t even go to the hospital for a checkup. I had an organic injury, so I went to a physical trainer for three months to take special courses to strengthen my rotator cuff and correct my swing pattern. Not only did my shoulder pain disappear, but my ball-killing speed also increased by 20%. I was much more efficient than before when I was just swinging my racket around for an afternoon.

In the past two years, there have been a lot of special fitness programs for ordinary fitness enthusiasts such as "Peach Butt Special" and "Right Angle Shoulder Special" that have appeared on the market. There are always different opinions in the industry on whether these types of programs are considered serious special fitness programs: one group believes that such programs are aimed at strengthening the shape of specific body parts. As long as the training logic is scientific and does not violate human body mechanics, it is indeed a special fitness program that adjusts the shape. Many ordinary people who want to adjust their body in a targeted way have indeed achieved results after practicing it.； The other group believes that most of these programs are concepts hyped up by fitness marketing, and are essentially local resistance training. There is no need to separate them as a "special" hype concept, not to mention that many unscrupulous institutions teach wrong force exertion patterns in order to achieve quick results, such as practicing right-angle shoulders by deliberately shrugging, but instead develop upper cross syndrome, which is not worth the loss.

If you don’t have the need for sports competition or body adjustment, you may also be exposed to specialized fitness. For example, sedentary people always suffer from back pain, and office workers always have mouse hands. Special lumbar spine stabilization training and wrist functional rehabilitation training done at a rehabilitation institution are all in the category of specialized fitness. When I had an acute attack of lumbar protrusion, I couldn’t walk very well. I went to a rehabilitation therapist for two months to practice deep core activation and single-leg standing stability training. Now my waist is less sore after sitting for eight hours, which is much more effective than wearing plaster every day.

There are also many more niche special events, such as hypoxic tolerance for high-altitude mountain climbers, apnea cardiopulmonary exercises for free divers, and even wrist stability and neurological reflexes for professional e-sports players. Editing is completely different. To put it bluntly, special fitness is like custom-made sports shoes, while ordinary fitness is like a versatile pair of white shoes. The former accurately adapts to your specific needs and is more efficient. However, if you don’t have a clear goal and just want to move and sweat, there is actually no need to join in the fun of special fitness.