Dubai’s Scandinavian Health & Performance introduces free 3-D fitness workshops

It may look like a simple task, but picking up a set of keys from the floor involves a whole range of motions, including a forward lunge, bend, spine rotation and arm extension.

These basic movements, usually practised in individual sets, are being put together in various combinations for a series of free fitness workshops, run by Scandinavian Health & Performance (SHP), on Friday mornings at Dubai’s JLT.

Dubbed as “a three-dimensional” training programme, “authentic movement” will be taught to prevent injury through better joint stability, strength and muscular balance.

SHP’s founder Ian Houghton says the practical training sessions are based on a keen understanding of biomechanics and functional anatomy. It is a method commonly used to improve the performance of professional golfers and footballers, but is now gaining traction as a fitness tool in Europe and the Middle East.

“Our fitness industry today is based upon the bodybuilding community,” says Houghton, who also specialises in naprapathy – a treatment method that uses manipulation of muscles and joints to alleviate pain.

“About 90 per cent of the people in the gym are training to look better or change their physique. But if you are interested in functioning better, you need to move beyond the constraints of traditional exercise and apply the principal of specificity.”

The 45-minute session takes participants through smaller mobilising exercises before incorporating bigger movements, such as lunges in five different directions while holding a dumbbell, squatting with a press and rotation, and jumps with feet in various positions.

Houghton says the joints can be trained to “adapt” to a combination of movements. “The body can move forward and backwards, sideways and rotate,” he says.

“These are authentic movements that our body hasn’t been coached in. “It requires and uses all three dimensions of the joints and we don’t use them in a specific sequence.

A new approach

Houghton says the 3-D training approach – with its awareness of the body’s capacity – goes against many principles of traditional gym exercise, which he describes as often limiting movement.

“In traditional gym sessions we limit the joint motion to fewer angles so that we can load it heavier and create tissue breakdown,” he says. “3-D training is about utilising combinations of movements. This can then be applied to lifestyle tasks such as picking something from the floor, or in sports, to throw, kick or swing.”

The measurable benefits, he says, are better mobility which also helps in injury prevention.

During one session, Houghton uses a floor mat with numbers specially designed to create an infinite set of movements. “The idea is to not do something the same way all the time and to avoid overuse and tissue breakdown,” he says.

This understanding of 3-D movement can help people to tweak their fitness routines and work around limitations.

“You can apply variations to suit individuals needs, whether that is to get stronger or to offload. For example, if some one has knee issues, we can teach them how to squat slightly differently so that it won’t hurt the knee.”

• The 3-D training sessions take place at Scandinavian Health & Performance, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai, on Fridays at 9am and 10am. The class is restricted to 12 per session but no registration is required. For more details, call 04 368 7800

aahmed@thenational.ae​