Cindy Wu

Covid as an uninvited guest, it leads to a wonder, whether a new forms of training can unlock undiscovered potentials in preparation for future crisis. Creating design that benefits the future generation instead of focus on instant reward is an inspiring idea from the book--The Good Ancestor by Jonas Salk. Maintaining health is a radical prescription for long-term thinking. This idea leads to the creation of a fitness programme, focus on user age between 15-45, which is the period of time that people have been intensively studying and working to reward the country.

The leisure center at Camden council building becomes the site for further study. It has a basement pool and standard gym. Common exercises that were engaged in normal gym facilities will sometimes damage our rotator muscle due to gravity attraction. It multiplies and concentrates body weight onto one spot, this can worsen chronic diseases such as shoulder inflammation and pain.

Through process of research and inspiration that had been taken from documentaries of NASA and EAS, new circuit of training has been informed, introducing a new zero gravity experience based on therapy science. The circuit had been named as the Tetraathlon, includes 4 exercises:

1. In water Training. Water is 12 times as dense as air, acting as an invisible hand holding the body, reducing damages to joints and tendons.

2. Rock Climbing, similar to a gecko, spreads body weight onto four limbs, relieving our spinal and waist. It also improves our flexibility and coordination.

3. Inversion Walking. By shifting body’s gravity upside down, it will increase blood circulation to activate brain activities, releasing back pain from standard mode of sitting.

4. Cardio & Equilibrium dual training. It strengthens our hearts, increases stamina. Spinning motion improves our spatial awareness and also builds on new muscle memory.

Zero gravity practices have direct benefits improving our proprioception, which is sometimes called the 6th sense working with our interoception, the ability to sense space, find balance in a new environment and perform simultaneous action precisely. Methodologies of spatial design are working in cooperation with proprioception. Please see the film of Tetraathlon Fitness Center in below for an comprehensive project overview.

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Cindy Wu