The Benefits of Functional Training and Why You Should Incorporate It into Workouts
Because of the ongoing pandemic, I had the opportunity to simplify my workouts since gyms were closed. I resorted to using my body weight as equipment. I recently started incorporating functional training along with HIIT workouts and have noticed changes in my daily activities.
What is Functional Training?
Functional training is a type of training that engages the entire body, making daily activities easier to perform. It is often used in physical therapy to rehabilitate and strengthen muscles used on a daily basis. It is based on the seven fundamental human movement patterns: squat, lunge, push, pull, hinge, rotation, and gait. These exercises utilize multi-joint movements that are essential for daily activities like bending, twisting, lifting, loading, pushing, and squatting. Functional training exercises focus on building core strength and stability, which prevent injuries.
What are The Benefits of Functional Training?
Balance and Stability: Many functional training exercises focus on balance and core stability. By strengthening our core, we protect our spine, allowing our body to better resist motion. This allows us to protect our lower backs when we lift, sit down or stand up. Squats and lunges are functional exercises that work to increase core stability, lower body strength, and balance. To increase the intensity of these exercises, resistance bands or dumbbells can be used.
Overall Strength: Isolation exercises like bicep curls focus on strengthening one muscle group, instead of strengthening the body as a whole. But in real life, there are rare instances where we only use one muscle group. In contrast, functional training exercises engage multiple muscle groups and thereby building overall strength.
Less Injury Prone: Since functional training engages the whole body and overall strengthens and stabilizes our muscles, it better protects our joints from injury. Personally, I can attest to this. I use to think I was in good physical shape since I was running and lifting at the gym. But after a day of lifting heavy boxes, my back said otherwise. At the gym, I focused primarily on isolation moves. Because of the lifting, I had the false illusion that I was strong enough to live boxes from the floor to the table. It was not till I started incorporating functional training that I realized how weak my core was. Thankfully, that has changed and I no longer suffer from back pain after a day of heavy lifting.
On a more personal level, I’ve also noticed an improvement in reflexes and balance.
Here are some exercises I incorporate in my workouts:
Squat: Bodyweight squats, goblet squats
Lunge: Forward lunges, reverse lunges, jumping lunges
Push: Pushups, shoulder presses
Pull: Pull-ups, dumbbell rows
Hinge: Hip hinges, deadlifts, kettlebell swings
Rotation: Russian twists, woodchops
Gait: Walking, running
The benefits of functional training have manifested in my daily activities and I hope you will start incorporating some of these exercises in your workout regime!
You just read another post from In Fitness And In Health: a health and fitness community dedicated to sharing knowledge, lessons, and suggestions to living happier, healthier lives.
If you’d like to join our newsletter and receive more stories like this one, tap here.
