Functional Training – The New Buzz That’s Here To Stay by Dr Corey Mote

If you’ve been involved with the fitness world for any time at all, you’ve seen fads in exercise programs come and go. Many may only last a couple years before they are forgotten, others may stay in the game much longer, for a decade or so. But we now have something that is spreading rapidly and is backed by a clinical perspective. This new form of training would be functional fitness, also known as functional exercise or functional training.

Functional exercise focuses on building a body capable of performing real-life activities in real-life positions, as opposed to simply lifting a certain amount of weight in an idealized posture and positioning that is created by the use of an exercise machine in the gym. The benefits of functional training include improved balance, range of motion, core strength, and joint stabilization.

Functional training exercises work multiple muscle groups or body parts with each movement or exercise. This is contraryfrom traditional weight training, where only one or two muscle groups are
generally targeted. Functional training programs generally challenge target muscle groups through different planes of motion, which not only strengthen the target muscles, but also the core and stability muscles which support the body through these various movements. This type of training basically teaches the body to use multiple muscle groups in conjunction with each other for more
efficient movements.

Functional training exercises are, in effect, exercises designed to improve strength and efficiency while performing movements directly related to activities of daily living or sport-specific movements. This form of training is commonly used for sports conditioning to allow athletes to strengthen their musculoskeletal structure while performing movement patterns that are directly related to the movements they perform in their given sport. An important aspect of such exercise is position specific movements, as different positions in most sports require athletes to be stronger in various planes of motion in order to improve in their sport overall.

So how shall we determine what functional exercises to add to one’s fitness regimen? If you are a trainer and are designing a program for a client, jot down the activities in which he or she performs daily, whether it be a certain type of repetitive motion or lift, or a particular position in which he or she stays in most of the day (e.g. sitting, standing). If the client is an athlete, it is important to understand what movements are involved in his or her sport, as well as the strengths and weaknesses that may be involved.

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