I worked out with Luke Schuver – a personal trainer based in Waterloo, Iowa – for well over two years until my injuries forced me to take time off. In him I found a dedicated and caring professional who was always committed to helping me and others accomplish our health goals. What I did not know is that Schuver, himself, had been dealing with sports-related injuries.
People generally look at personal trainers and assume that they are invincible. I’d watch Schuver demonstrate the perfect lunge, squat, and deadlift and wonder if I’d ever be able to improve my form to that extent. Turns out, perception and reality don’t always match up.
“I graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 2015 with an undergraduate degree in Movement and Exercise Science,” shared Schuver. “I’ve been teaching group fitness since then. But with pretty much every class I taught, I found myself accumulating more injuries. My joints ache. I have shoulder issues. I feel like there’s a war unleashed on my joints all the time.”
The pain was accompanied with depression and a debilitating anxiety that was starting to gradually consume him.
“I struggled immensely. At the end of every extreme hour of class, I felt as if I was going to pass out in my car. I was not happy at all.”
Luke began seeking out other forms of exercise in order to find relief. His research led to discovering Functional Patterns, or FP. In fact, it was Schuver’s link (on his Facebook page) to a video featuring Frida Paris that introduced me to this relatively new concept. Prior to that, I had never heard of FP. The video shows the young woman demonstrating what seem like a ‘motorized’ series of movements that are, simply put, fascinating.
“I was blown away by the simplicity of the exercises that – at the very core – were designed to help any individual, regardless of their fitness level, to improve their lives. I decided to explore this form of exercise further.
“In 2017, I began training extensively with Paris – a Human Biomechanics Specialist who runs her own Functional Patterns clinic out of Minnesota. I ended up becoming certified as a Human Foundations Level 1 Instructor.”
FP is the brainchild of fitness instructor, Naudi Aguilar.
“Naudi is a genius of our times,” gushed Schuver. “He started the program seven years ago. Basically, he wants to live forever. He wants to experience homeostasis and be as healthy as he possibly can be.”
Aguilar is well-known internationally, now, and has training centers in Germany, Australia, France, UK, and the United States.
“As a fitness instructor, Aguilar analyzed traditional forms of exercise and thought most of the routines led folks to adapt to their seated world, like squats which actually makes our problems worse. Exercises performed in the traditional sense might get you great results on the outside by building muscle mass but they crush you underneath. The risk of injury increases tremendously. Moreover, your results are not long term.”
As his experience grew, Luke started incorporating some of the moves he had learned from Frida into the extreme classes he led.
“I altered the way I taught classes in hopes of promoting a safer work out environment. I had gotten into FP to find a fix for my issues. Having found relief, I figured I could introduce a safer, more responsible set of exercises to help my clients too.”
The gym management, unfortunately, did not agree with his vision. There was mounting pressure for him to administer classes the traditional way, which for many (including the trainers) involved further injury.
“I decided I could no longer be happy peddling the same exercises that plagued me for three years,” confided Schuver. “I could not deal with the fact that I was advising clients to subject themselves to moves that could potentially hurt them. The guilt was, simply, just too much.”
Schuver and the gym parted ways. The new-found free time allowed him to immerse himself in furthering his knowledge about Functional Patterns. Although it’s been a bit of a struggle getting the word out and drumming up support for this new wave of movement science, he couldn’t have been happier.
“My outlook on life has changed, to be honest,” admitted Schuver. “I was extremely stressed out and the stress was beginning to manifest itself and emerge in the emotional context. They say daily exercise keeps you younger and more vibrant. The reality is that the stress involved in traditional exercises defeats that purpose and takes a heavy toll on the body. You might actually age a lot faster and end up living with all sorts of aches and pains.
“All of that can be avoided if you follow Functional Patterns. FP makes sense to me because it tackles the stress head-on. I actually want to work out even at the end of a very long day. It is a more sustainable form of fitness. I turned to FP when no other form of exercise was helping me find relief from pain associated with injuries.”
The program can be likened to a clinic that focuses on improving the entire body from the inside out. A client walking into class can expect to walk out with their mind, body, and emotional wellbeing overhauled and improved greatly. No other form of exercise is committed to actively nurturing all three attributes simultaneously in a single session.
“FP is the only system based around improving global biological characteristics such as breathing, standing, walking, running, and throwing,” explained Schuver. “Naudi Aguilar devised exercises designed to progress any human being, whether it is a 15-year old super athlete or a 96-year old man looking to improve agility. This system delivers long-term results to everyone across the board without creating setbacks.”
Other systems do not take biological characteristics into account when devising exercise routines.
“Babies know how to breathe inherently at the very beginning of life. As we age and adapt to our sedentary world, our fascial network slows down as well. FP seeks to return us to our basic environment. We can produce crazy results without injury because the exercises we perform replicate natural movement in a dynamic context.”
According to Luke, other programs introduce seven basic movements and then play them up for variety. The results also vary. More importantly, the likelihood of sustaining injury increases manifold when people overlook something as basic as proper form.
“Clients partaking in FP exercises can expect to see similar results across the board. The reason for that is we emphasize proper form and breathing. We give your joints a break by avoiding impact exercises. Instead, we focus on perfecting your posture and improving breathing mechanics in order to develop relaxation techniques, relieve stress, and boost emotional health.”
Invisible Lioness says
That sounds really interesting! You make me want to find out more. So I guess I’ll be busy now researching FP. 😉
I have to slightly disagree with the statement that “no other form of exercise is committed to actively nurturing all three attributes simultaneously in a single session” though. I would say that Yoga for example definitely has a holistic approach to the human practicing it as well.
Seema Khan says
Thank you for your comment. You’re probably right about yoga. It did cross my mind because in a typical yoga class, there’s a great amount of emphasis on relaxation techniques. However, there’s an understanding amongst the FP community that yoga, done wrong, can actually wreak more havoc. I suppose it all boils down to safety measures and listening to your body.
Shannon W says
Very interesting. I’ve been exercising fairly steadily for years and hasn’t heard of this. I’ll habe to check it out thanks!
Seema Khan says
Thank you for your comment, Shannon. This is relatively new. I suppose its nice to have options when it comes to exercise.