Functional Fitness

One of the latest buzzwords in the fitness industry, though one that I hope stands the test of time.

What is it?

In a nutshell, ‘functional fitness ‘ is all about training your body in ways that will benefit your performance of everyday tasks. It sounds simple. It is simple. But it’s also effective.

In the gym you may be able to deadlift that 70kg without so much breaking a sweat but in reality would you be capable of lifting that sofa to help your sister move house? Or able to hoist your nephew over your head and onto your shoulders without putting your back out when he refuses to walk any further?

From your gym workouts you may have got yourself beach ready or ‘ripped’, you may run your 5km on the treadmill in good time thrice weekly and don’t get me wrong, that’s great! But the majority of gym machines work your muscles in isolation and in a single plane of movement and anyone that runs will know that running on a treadmill is very different to road running. In the gym everything from the air-conditioned environment to your posture is idealised for prime performance of a specific task; this strength is not necessarily transferable to everyday tasks.

Functional fitness focuses on working your entire neuromuscular system, on getting your muscles and joints to work together to improve overall capabilities in terms of balance, posture, coordination and strength. When lifting that sofa it’s unlikely you’ll be able to maintain correct form throughout, you may have to twist and turn to manoeuvre it around the room and chances are you’ll need to hold it up for some time whilst your taskmaster decides where she wants it.

What can you do?

By incorporating dynamic movement into your exercise regime you can improve performance of daily activities, reduce the risks of injury and reach new physical and mental heights. So ditch a few of your traditional strength training exercises i.e. those using machines and go back to basics…spend some time perfecting your squat, your lunge and simple push ups, pull ups and rotations. The best thing about these exercises is that they can be performed anywhere! And, once you’ve got technique on point, you can progress them all so easily...use BOSU and stability balls, resistance bands, kettle bells, steps and barbells or be creative and move your workout outdoors! Use park benches to perform incline push ups and triceps dips, tree branches or monkey bars for eccentric pull ups and hanging crunches or even just a flight of stairs for split squats and plyometric hops, the list is endless and the rewards great!