As a human kinetic technologist, Martijn knows better than anyone how the human body works. In his blog he talks about the importance of exercise, overload and its consequences:

Nothing is more ingenious than nature. That’s one of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a human kinetics techologist. I take nature as the starting point for everything I design. Let me first take you to a poplar 25 meters high with a trunk one and a half meters thick. You don’t really understand how such a tree withstands a violent storm without snapping. If you saw through the trunk, you would understand. The tree has in fact strengthened itself in the trunk in the direction from which the wind usually blows. On that side of the tribe, he’s gotten a lot stronger over time. You can’t see it from the outside, but it’s clearly visible from the inside.

The same goes for the human body. Someone who uses a jackhammer all day will develop a lot more cartilage around certain joints. The body does this to protect its joints properly. A body brings building materials to those places that are used heavily. And that’s where the catch lies at the same time: The places of the body that you do not use, the body will not bring building materials. The body invented efficiency before we even named it.

To keep your body in optimal condition, it is therefore very important to use and load it as versatile as possible. It needs stimuli in your entire body to be able to take care of the entire body. And you have to give those stimuli to your body by moving in different ways. A tree that makes itself strong on the side where the wind ‘always’ comes from, breaks in a violent storm when the wind suddenly comes from the other side. So it is with the body.

The body is not made to sit still a lot. It is meant to be in constant motion. To be challenged, regularly, not too much. Spending hours a day in front of the computer or in front of a television was not the intention for the body. And you will eventually notice. Compensating for sitting still by training hard once or twice a week quickly leads to overload. Natural movements such as walking and climbing (yes, climb a tree or a climbing wall again) are very healthy ways of exercising.

The starting point of all products that we design is to keep your freedom of movement as large as possible. Making as much use as possible of what the body can do, giving the body as much freedom of movement as possible so that it stays in shape. Delivers building materials to as many places as possible. Find the optimum in what is possible and what is difficult. In a safe and comfortable way. This way your body continues to strengthen itself. For when the wind suddenly blows from a different angle.