If you are looking for a way to improve your fitness, health, and performance in everyday life, you may have heard of functional training. But what exactly is it and how can it benefit you? In this blog post, we will explain what functional training is, what are its benefits, and how to perform a functional workout.
What is functional training?
Functional training is a classification of exercise that involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life. It is not a fixed set of exercises, but rather a mode of training that adapts to the movements and muscles involved in the desired outcome. For example, if you want to improve your ability to lift heavy objects, you would perform exercises that mimic that movement pattern, such as deadlifts or squats. If you want to improve your balance and coordination, you would perform exercises that challenge your stability and agility, such as lunges or single-leg squats.
Functional training focuses on compound exercises, which are exercises that recruit multiple muscles and joints together. This helps you train your body as a whole unit, rather than isolating individual parts. Compound exercises also burn more calories, improve your cardiovascular fitness, and enhance your muscular strength and endurance.
Benefits of functional training
Functional training has many benefits for your health and well-being. Some of them are:
- It improves your performance in everyday tasks and sports. By training your body to move efficiently and effectively in different situations, you will be able to perform better at work, at home, or at play. You will also reduce your risk of injury by strengthening your muscles, joints, and connective tissues.
- It increases your core strength and stability. Your core muscles are the ones that support your spine and pelvis. They are essential for maintaining good posture and balance. Functional training engages your core muscles in every exercise, which helps you develop a strong and stable core.
- It enhances your mobility and flexibility. Functional training involves moving your body through different ranges of motion and planes of movement. This helps you improve your joint mobility and muscle flexibility, which can prevent stiffness and pain.
- It adds variety and fun to your workouts. Functional training allows you to be creative and use different types of equipment and exercises. You can use free weights, resistance bands, medicine balls, kettlebells, ropes, tires, or even your own body weight. You can also mix up your workouts by changing the intensity, duration, frequency, or order of the exercises. This will keep you motivated and challenged.
How to perform a functional workout
There is no one-size-fits-all formula for a functional workout. The best way to design a functional workout is to consider your goals, needs, preferences, and abilities. However, here are some general guidelines to help you get started:
- Warm up properly before starting your workout. This will prepare your body for the exercises and prevent injuries. You can do some dynamic stretches, light cardio, or mobility drills for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Choose exercises that target multiple muscle groups and joints at the same time. For example, instead of doing bicep curls or leg extensions, do push-ups or lunges. Try to include exercises that involve pushing, pulling, squatting, hinging, rotating, and stabilizing movements.
- Use appropriate equipment and resistance for your level of fitness and skill. You can start with body weight exercises or light weights and gradually increase the resistance as you get stronger and more confident. You can also adjust the difficulty of the exercises by changing the speed, range of motion, or stability factor.
- Perform each exercise with proper form and technique. This will ensure that you are working the right muscles and avoiding unnecessary stress on your joints. If you are not sure how to do an exercise correctly, ask a trainer or watch a video demonstration.
- Do 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 repetitions for each exercise. Rest for 30 to 60 seconds between sets. You can also do circuit training by performing one exercise after another with little or no rest between them. This will increase your heart rate and calorie burn.
- Cool down after finishing your workout. This will help you lower your heart rate and blood pressure gradually and prevent soreness and stiffness. You can do some static stretches, deep breathing, or meditation for 10 to 15 minutes.
Conclusion
Functional training is a great way to improve your fitness, health, and performance in everyday life. It involves training your body for the activities that you do regularly or want to do better. It has many benefits such as increasing your core strength and stability, enhancing your mobility and flexibility, improving your performance in everyday tasks and sports, and adding variety and fun to your work outs.
If you want to try functional training, you can follow the general guidelines above or consult a trainer for a personalized program.
Remember to warm up properly before starting your workout, choose exercises that target multiple muscle groups and joints at the same time, use appropriate equipment and resistance for your level of fitness and skill, perform each exercise with proper form and technique, do 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 15 repetitions for each exercise,
and cool down after finishing your workout.
We hope this blog post has helped you understand what functional training is and how it can benefit you.