Now that you’ve started working out, you’ve learnt a thing or two. One of those lessons is probably that not all exercises were created to encourage practicality.
Let’s be honest, you don’t just want to move your muscles. You want to work them!
Basically:
Many people want value from their workout. And so Functional fitness was created!
The focus is on exercises that improve your quality of life. Functional fitness trains your muscles to replicate movements that you use in everyday life.
For example, a squat is a functional exercise because everyone sits down at some point during the day.
The idea is that the better your muscles become at doing these movements, the easier your life becomes and the stronger your become.
This is no new concept. Functional fitness is everywhere, many gyms incorporate these workouts into boot camps and classes. Using your favourite exercises paired with common equipment (e.g kettlebells, fitness balls, weights etc).
For your benefit:
Not only does functional fitness improve your quality of life, it also:
- Reduces risk of injury
- Make everyday tasks easier
Functional fitness training is also being condensed into comprehensive workouts for older adults. The benefits include:
- Improved balance
- Improved agility
- Reduced risk of falling
- Increased muscle strength.
For example:
Functional fitness exercises are a series of multijoint and multimuscle exercises. Do these right and you could be starting a whole new chapter in your fitness life. Do these wrong, and… please don’t.
Enough talk, here are a few examples:
Wimbledon
Do: Begin in a lunge position. Right foot forward, left leg arranged two feet behind hip. Imagine you’re holding a tennis racket in front of your chest.
Brace your core. Jump to the right, as far as you can. Jump back to the left. Keep jumping to the side.
Tip: Jump back as soon as you land.
Uni-plank lift
Do: Begin in a push up position. Raise right hand and left leg 1 inch off of the ground. No, not done yet- in fact this is just the starting position.
Now, brace your core, and raise both until they’re in line with the ground. Continue raising them for thirty seconds, then switch.
Tip: Keep your eyes on the ground so that you don’t place unnecessary stress on your neck.
Caterpillar workout
Do: Stand with feet shoulder length apart, rest your hands at your sides. Lower your hips into a squat position, with your hands in front of your feet with your palms resting on the floor.
Walk your hands out, quickly, until you’re in a push up position (there should be a straight line form your head to your heels).
Stop. Then reverse into starting position.
Tip: As an added challenge, you could do this exercise one leg at a time.
Begin with only your right leg on the floor. Perform the move for 30 seconds, then switch.
So, now you know:
There are many more exercises waiting to be tried and tested by the avid fitness explorer. Why not try researching a few more? Or asking our qualified and eager trainers?
Functional fitness is a great way to add value to your workout, and spice things up a bit in the benefits department.
This type of training is also a massive leap forward. People don’t want ‘designer muscles’ anymore. They want their workout to be more than just aesthetically pleasing. They want to be healthy, they want to thrive.