What is Functional Training?
Functional Fitness Training is exercises which focuses on helping with day-to-day activities. The beauty of it is that it is beneficial to everybody.
It helps with anything from getting in and out of a chair to lifting heavy objects. No matter how sedentary or active you are, whether you are training for your couch to 5k or obstacle course race, functional fitness training will improve your overall fitness and mobility levels.
It works by strengthening the muscles in the same way you would need to use them for certain tasks, it increases mobility and reduces your risk of injury.
Functional fitness can be done with or without equipment to suit the individuals goals.
Who Can benefit From It?
Adding functional movements to your exercise regime will benefit anybody. There are certain groups which specifically benefit from functional training:
- Military/ Police/ Firefighters
Pretty much all training throughout the career of anyone in these services will focus on functional movements. Anybody with ambitions of joining the services should seriously consider a functional training program.
- Mixed Martial Artists (MMA)
Every martial art requires a high level of strength and mobility. Mixed Martial Artists will benefit greatly from functional training. Both bodyweight and weights based functional training programs will be suitable depending on the level of experience and or confidence of the individual.
- Obstacle Course Racers
It goes without saying that obstacle course racers will benefit from functional training. Strength, mobility, and endurance are a must for this sport. A program which focuses on bodyweight and cardiovascular circuits will be beneficial here.
5 key Benefits of Functional Fitness Training
We’ve looked at what functional training is and who will benefit. Now we will explain the key benefits that functional training will give.
1) Increased coordination, balance, posture, and flexibility
In every exercise makes you start and finish in a position where your muscles are working in their natural range. Resistance plus flexibility produces mobility. As you work on your training, you will be boosting your body’s functional strength, your overall flexibility, and your coordination. Your range of motion will improve as you train. This will make you better at performing the exercises as you gain experience and will make day-to-day activities easier. A range of muscles are engaged during functional training, smaller muscles called stabilisers support the larger muscle groups. Targeting these muscles together increases strength and balance and will improve posture.
2) Increases speed and power
Everyone wants to be faster and stronger and functional training will help you get there! You can become more powerful if all parts of your body are training and moving.
Great exercises to develop speed and power include jumping squats, push up variations and explosive lunges. To reap the speed and power benefits of these exercises, a combination of explosiveness, muscle control, balance, agility and coordination is needed.
As you focus on these elements of training, you develop greater control and explosion in your movement while changing directions and changing speed more fluidly.
3) Encourages mindfulness
Functional training encourages the individual to focus on their body while performing exercises. In doing this you become more in-tune with your body and its capabilities.
4) Strengthens the Core
All core muscles are engaged during a functional training session. The abdominals, scapulars and hips are the muscle groups needed to for stability. These are all used when performing functional movements. Not only will you get a solid core, but you will also build a solid platform for your body to perform daily movements with ease.
5) Prevents Injury
All of the above benefits lead to a lower risk of injury. The majority of injuries are sustained through inexperience, incorrect form, or overloading. Functional training allows individuals to start with basic movements and use just bodyweight to gain experience and learn correct form. Weight and more complex movements can be added as the individual gains the strength, mobility and flexibility to perform them correctly.
Interested? Download your functional fitness plan today. We have a bodyweight plan and a weights based plan.