Functional training develops practical strength that directly applies to daily activities. From pushing and pulling, to squatting, lunging and standing exercises – functional workouts focus on compound movements which mimic real world movement patterns.
Functional fitness workouts will help improve the way you move while playing with children or carrying groceries – read on! Here’s how.
Pushing
Pushing exercises such as the Bench Press are often associated with bodybuilding and extreme-strength sports, but they’re just as beneficial for everyday health – helping keep shoulders, arms, upper back, posture and balance healthy as well as making carrying heavy objects easier in daily life.
Functional Fitness workouts focus on full-body, compound movements such as the squat and push-up that engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. They are the types of exercises you might do during yoga class or commercial breaks while watching Netflix.
Such movements require more stabilization and activation of core muscles than isolation exercises such as bicep curls, therefore burning more calories to achieve leaner, more muscular-looking physique. Furthermore, their dynamic movements engage muscles for longer and require more oxygen to move, potentially increasing aerobic capacity as well.
Pulling
Pushing and pulling exercises are an integral component of functional training workouts, helping build upper body strength, improve balance, and increase core stability. By engaging large muscles with smaller stabilizing ones, pushing and pulling exercises help create muscle memory for improved effectiveness of workouts.
Unbeknownst to you, functional training has likely already become part of your routine without even realizing it. From bodyweight movements and gym lifting with barbells or dumbbells to using resistance accessories such as weighted vests for resistance training – every time you engage in functional movement training you are engaging in functional movement training and engaging in functional movement training.
Functional strength training can help prevent trips while carrying groceries or your toddler on the sidewalk, or help you conquer your next max back squat at the gym. Functional strength training makes your body more capable of moving in everyday situations as well as training better for specific sports; adding it into your regimen is the key to building an active and rock-solid physique and lifestyle.
Twisting
Functional training involves performing movements that mimic daily tasks in life – including bending, twisting, squatting and lifting activities – using movements like bending, twisting, squatting and lifting movements that employ multiple muscles simultaneously. Many exercises performed under functional training involve full-body compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, box jumps, heavy load carries or explosive movements to strengthen those specific muscle groups involved.
Consider, for instance, the difference between traditional weight lifting and using the Nautilus HumanSport Freedom Trainer to perform a seated row: using more muscle groups while expending more energy to move through this movement pattern can burn more calories and benefit more muscle groups than doing just traditional lifting alone.
As with any new exercise routine, adding functional fitness into your workouts should start off slowly and build gradually over time. As with any new fitness regime, be sure to consult a healthcare professional first – begin with bodyweight workouts, free weights or machines as a starting point and observe what kind of progress occurs over time.
Rotation
Functional training exercises frequently feature complex movements that engage multiple joints and muscles at once. One such movement is the humble squat: when you lower down, your hips, knees and ankles move through flexion and extension as your working (glutes and quads) muscles drive movement with supporting (hamstrings, calves and erector spinae).
Rotation is another essential component of functional fitness that can help to increase balance, stability, and mobility. Unilateral exercise – where one side works harder than the other – may also be added into functional workouts as an effective means to address imbalances or tightness.
Functional fitness training is an invaluable way to strengthen and safeguard your body for future activities, whether they be soccer mommy duties, business traveler trips, CrossFit classes or anything in between. One great aspect of functional fitness workouts is they can be completed anywhere without using equipment – giving anyone access to this type of workout the opportunity to add it into their regular workout regimes and reap its benefits in everyday activities and max squat attempts alike! Start practicing functional fitness today – from soccer mommies and business travelers alike can benefit! Get on the floor with some bodyweight moves and you’ll soon see how functional fitness can make life better from daily tasks to crushing max squat maxes!
