Functional Patterns: An Auto-Ethnography into the Spatialities of Training Intentionally, and Not Habitually

Abstract

Functional Patterns (FP) is a fitness modality that concerns itself with training organisms in relation to their biological characteristics. For humans, this entails a foundation of fitness training around standing, walking, running, and throwing; known as the ‘Big 4’ by followers of FP. Stemming from this newly conceptualized baseline for functional fitness, FP has sought to redefine the mental models of the general population — from fitness practices that involve mostly linear spatial qualities in movement to a non-linear practice involving predominantly horizontal, parabolic, and rotational (transverse) movements. Taking a mixed-methods approach through the lens of mobile studies in geography, this research employs visuospatial principles and (auto-)ethnographic fieldwork to explore FP; situating the data within the current academic literature, and investigating the spatialities of this novel fitness practice. The resulting analyses contend that walking, running, and throwing constitute a form of spatial relicts — primitive movements fundamental to the species survival that have lost their relative importance within the structures of modern society. Further, situating hegemonic fitness practices within this temporal context, this research argues that consumer’s relationship to the current fitness paradigm is one of cruel optimism — lending to one’s detriment rather than unequivocal health and well-being.