Functional Fitness

This week I want to talk about the basic ideology behind my style of training and my way of thinking about exercise. For me, the single most important thing I can do as a trainer is to help my client to function better in life. Now, they may have goals that are more important to them than general functioning, but all that means is that I need to find a way to help them achieve their goals in a manner that will also allow them to function at their highest capacity. If you to lose weight, but are no more functional in your daily life, then the weight loss was not a success. I think that in the end, most goals are functional goals, though they can take on many forms. Keeping with the topic of weight loss, there are of course the aesthetic reasons behind having a goal like this, but usually someone who is overweight also wants to be more active, not tire as easily, or simply be able to get through the day without all the stress that extra weight can put on the joints and organs. So when I put together a plan for weight loss, it will be focused on calories burned, but I will use activities that will make this person not only leaner, but more capable in movement, strength, endurance, flexibility, and stability.

This idea of functional fitness gets thrown around a lot in the fitness industry these days, but I feel that much of the functional training that goes on is not functional at all. To me functional is about participating in activities that you can take back to your everyday life. Doing upside down pushups on a stability ball may seem like a functional progression of a shoulder stabilization exercise, but the fact is that this is not something you will likely encounter in your daily movements…unless perhaps you are in the circus! So when I talk about functional training, this is what I mean:

Stretching - allowing your muscles to go through their complete range of motion.

Balance - making sure that you are capable of maintaining your equilibrium and posture through movement, preparing your body for the stabilization and reactivity needed to maintain balance throughout all activities.

Stabilization – focusing on the muscles around those joints that are in the greatest need of stability: the knee, hip, lower and upper back, neck, and shoulder.

Strength - training in the basic movement: the squat, deadlift, overhead press, pull-up, and push-up.

Cardiovascular Training- getting your heart used to working at higher intensities, increasing the maximum output that your heart can handle, and increasing the volume and efficiency of your oxygen consumption.

By combining these important areas with the goals of the client, I am able to produce the most effective changes that will both make the client happy and functional.

Now in the world self-training, where you do not have a trainer, start thinking about the exercises you do, what the purpose is, and see how functional they really are. My favorite nonfunctional activity is the bicep curl. Unless you are a body builder, there is really no purpose behind this single joint movement. Of course some people just want to have bigger arms, and that can be a legitimate goal, but don’t think that this is going to be useful in any other endeavor. I would also point out that in a well balanced training routine, you are already working the biceps during pulling exercises and the triceps during pushing exercises. Often times, if you add in arm work on top of that, you can end up with disproportionate limbs. So if functional training sounds like something that interests you, here are some tips.

- Workout on your feet. You sit enough during the day, and most movement takes place standing, not sitting.

- Stay away from single joint work, i.e. curls/extensions for the arms, legs, wrists.

- Run outside. A treadmill does not produce the same effect on your body as when you propel yourself across the ground.

- Sweat. If you really want to make any changes, you need to push yourself. Don’t overdo it, but if you aren’t sweating, you aren’t working hard enough.

- Stretch after training- check out my previous blog, Flexibility First

- Do single leg work such as single leg squats and single leg deadlifts. These are great for working on balance, symmetry of strength and movement, and training you for life the way most movement happens- one leg at a time.

- Form first. If you do not have correct form during exercise, your efforts are only going to be counterproductive. Work on stability first, and only work with as much weight as you can handle.

This is not all that being functional is about, but it’s a good start. Try thinking more about what you do and why you do it and you may find yourself changing some exercises that you do. I hope this helps—if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Take care and happy fitness!

-Colin