As Wilfred Juma sits down on the stairmaster to quench his thirst, he sighs, taking a moment to reflect on his fitness journey.
A sense of pride and accomplishment is written all over his face. It has been a transformative experience that has not only reshaped his body but also his life in general.
This journey didn’t begin with a dramatic epiphany or an overnight transformation. The first step was a simple realisation.
He needed to make changes in certain aspects of his life. Wilfred wanted to feel free and be happy.
Topless and sweaty, he spots a soma that is ripped to a fault. His lean, well-defined muscles are a testament of sheer hard work.
“And consistency, please don’t forget that,” he yells while taking another sip of water.
Just four years ago, the 27- 27-year-old had a desk job in one of the leading banks in the country, working as an accountant.
“I quit my job in 2020 because I felt the environment was too toxic and it was affecting my mental health. I was in a bad state of mind at the time,” he recounts.
Wilfred turned to the gym, the one place that always offered the tranquillity he badly needed.
“While still at the university, I would hit the gym, although I was never consistent. But after quitting my job, I maintained consistency,” he says.
Wilfred has since changed careers. He is now a certified personal trainer.
“When I returned to the gym a lot of people kept consulting me on workouts, I guess they could see I understood what I was doing. But I couldn’t handle them because I wasn’t a fitness coach. That’s when I decided to enrol for a fitness badge and got my certifications,” he says.
The type of workouts Juma fancies aren’t the typical weight lifting, or cardio that most gym rats are accustomed to.
Functional/cross-training
“I prefer functional training. We have basic forms of training which include weightlifting, callisthenics, crossfit, bodybuilding, and strength training. What I do is functional training or cross-training. It’s a hybrid of all these forms of training,” Wilfred explains.
Functional exercise is a workout designed to be, as the name alludes, functional. It helps one perform everyday activities and tends to use movement patterns that mimic how one naturally moves. Think squats, overhead pulls and presses, Wilfred says. These might seem constricted to the gym environment, but compare them to sitting and standing from a chair, putting something on a shelf, carrying a baby in your hands, pulling a cart and you quickly begin to see the parallels.
“Functional training is about supporting activities outside of the gym. It’s the new standard of what is possible, using medicine balls, kettlebells, sandbags, dumbbells and even tyres to get your body to move through diverse movement patterns,” Wilfred offers more context.
Target muscles
This form of training focuses on compound exercises, a type of exercise that recruits multiple muscles and joints together, something Wilfred says is always overlooked by a majority of gymgoers.
“The beauty of this form of training is that you are just as strong, just as fast because you are not reduced to just one modification of training in a given session. Say like you will see an individual spending a session just doing leg workouts,” he motes.
The benefits
The benefits of functional training are for everybody to see.
“With this form of exercise, you are able to address all body weaknesses with just one mode of workout. For instance, weightlifters always struggle with mobility and flexibility. Cross-fitters are always suffering injuries because of the repetitiveness of the form of workout they do. Bodybuilders aren’t known to be sprinters but with functional training, you will be able to answer all these kinds of issues,” he says.
Wilfred adds that when one is accustomed to functional training unlike the other forms, he or she will prepare himself for old age, a time when mobility, flexibility and even lack of strength becomes an issue.
Wilfred Juma, a certified personal trainer. PHOTO | POOL
“I would want to lift my grandchildren up in the sky and chase them around when I come of age. Besides building muscles, this is another reason why I fell in love with hybrid training as most people prefer to call it,” he says.
A session in Juma’s workout is never the same; it varies.
“This type of training has splits. You have your splits well cut out for you in a given session. For instance, I could do sprints on the treadmill, then push workouts. That means I am working my chest, triceps and shoulders. On the second day session, I could do endurance work and leg day, or back. That means I might be walking or running slower and longer on the treadmill. So, basically, I am training as an athlete, a marathoner and a weightlifter in one session. That will give me endurance and strength in the same session,” he avers.
Some of his clients, Wilfred says, prefer doing everything at a go instead of having splits.
“You could walk in and start with a 10-30 minutes warm up. Then do body workouts, maybe push-ups, squats, pull-ups like a cross fitter then end your session with a long endurance training. ”
Joints workouts
Wilfred sets a specific day to do only a joint workout.
“Most people overlook joint and tendon workouts and this is risky. For instance, crossfitters always have their joints burnt out because of doing higher reps (repetitions) with a longer range of motions. That is why after some time most of them suffer from knee and shoulder injuries. This is why in a week I set out a day or two to just sit on a mat without rush and do a lot of stretches to increase my range of motion, ensuring all my joints are in good health. You might decide to use resistance bands or not or both,” he offers.
To get as ripped as he is has defined toned muscles with a six percent body fat, Wilfred says it’s taken him four years.
“I only spend two hours in the gym when training myself,” he says.
Right diet
What you eat is also important, Wilfred emphasises.
“When you are working out your body is simply reacting to what you take in. You can never outwork a bad eating habit. I always tell clients anytime they are hungry always eat protein first, the Kenyan culture is that whenever you are hungry you start with carbohydrates and finish with proteins. It should be the other way.”
