Functional fitness is one of the most recent training trends to hit the gym scene and it has exploded in popularity due to the results that it produces.
What is it?
Functional fitness is designed to prepare your body for everyday living. It focuses on compound movements that force you to engage all of your core muscles and your stabilizer muscles, many of which are not stimulated during traditional weight training.
An example of a functional fitness movement is the step-up. During this exercise you step up on to a platform that’s high enough to achieve a 90-degree knee bend. Then you lower yourself back to the ground on the same leg. Switch sides and repeat. This motion simulates stair climbing or getting up from a kneeling position after playing with the kids or even getting on a chair to change a light bulb.
What can it do for me?
The greatest benefit of functional fitness is that it helps reduce your risk of injury, not during your workout, but during everyday living. So, if you worry that you’re going to throw your back out at work or that you don’t have the strength to continue heaving your toddler up the stairs everyday – you might want to look into functional fitness.
In addition to minimizing you risk of injury during everyday activities, functional fitness also makes life easier as a whole. Every activity that you struggled to do before functional fitness will seem just a little bit easier after functional fitness.
The next best thing about functional fitness is that it doesn’t require a whole lot of equipment to do. All you really need is your body weight and a few dumbbells and you’re ready to go. If you can invest in it, a BOSU trainer is also great for functional fitness, but it’s not required.
More examples of functional fitness exercises:
For people who are use to doing traditional workouts, going through a few functional fitness sessions will definitely be an eye opener since functional training is usually a lot more intense than traditional workout programs. Here are a few exercise variations that support functional fitness:
1. Squats – either with or without weight, you simply bend your knees to 90-degrees while keeping tight abs and a flat back and then return to standing upright.
The functionality of this exercise in everyday living is fairly easy to see, as we all sit down and stand up several times a day.
2. Bent rows – These can be done as one arm rows with dumbbells or as two arm rows with a barbell. In this exercise you bend at the waist, keeping your abs tight and your back flat and your arm(s) hanging straight down. Then lift the weight towards your abdomen by moving your elbow straight up towards the ceiling. Lower it back down and repeat.
The functionality of this movement is reflected in everything from taking out the trash to picking up a laundry basket. We all perform bent lifting movements almost every day.
3. Balance training – Any movement that requires you to use your balance can be considered functional training since we require balance in all that we do.
Using a stability ball, a BOSU trainer or a balance board are great ways to improve your balance through functional training.
So you see, there are plenty of things that you can do in or out of the gym to train your muscles to work together to support your everyday movements. Beginning a functional training program, or even incorporating a few days of functional training into your current workout schedule will save you a lot of time, pain and medical bills in the the future and it will make your life easier to live.
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