I like watching people moving things around. People carrying big bags of rice, sand, cement, pots, metal pipes, pots, logs, giant electrical appliances. Anything really. 

The hands that lift the most are not always the strongest. They are the most efficient and find the most convenient way to pick up an object. The middle of the pipe. The bag of rice on the back as the person rounds over to balance things and move a load. 

It’s hard work and terribly inconvenient. And people do these things to scrape together a living. 

Why are we talking about this? 

Lifting in the gym is the opposite of this. Objects in a gym are designed to put you in positions to squat conveniently and with as upright a position as possible. Barbells keep a load close to you. Machines let the user attack a specific muscle group/groups with precision and without fatiguing anything that does not need to be involved. 

Dumbbells, kettlebells, machine anything really. Someone designed it and optimised it to make lifting simpler. And make them easier to push, squat, pull, carry etc.

And this is where functional training or even trying to mimic real world lifting in the gym falls apart. 

Real world objects are not made to be lifted easily. They are built to save space or house motors or be a part of a structure. But convieniently being handled is not what they are built for. Even suitcases are not the most efficient things to handle. They hold a lot of stuff but are hard to actually carry. 


Takeaway 

Real world lifting takes repetition and experience to find the right position to get the job done. 

Lifting in the gym wants to take the mystery out of how to lift to get the job done efficiently.