What’s so FUN about FUNctional Fitness?

Preparing our bodies for life’s daily challenges

Ever had that moment? You bend down to pick up an Amazon box, and “OWWW!!” – your back suddenly twinges. You think, "Wait a minute! I spend hours at the gym! Shouldn't this be no big deal?"

While those bicep curls you do in the gym do make your guns look great, this is not necessarily training you for the challenges of daily life. Standard training often focuses on building certain muscles in isolation and movements that you wouldn't do in daily life. 

Functional training focuses on training movements, not just muscles. It is the foundation for longevity - for staying strong, mobile and powerful to move through life with ease. It prepares the body for real world, unpredictable situations.

Functional fitness prepares the body for real life activities, strains and challenges. It’s the training you need to lift the kids, get up and down off the floor, or break into a sprint to catch the train – all without pulling a hamstring or tweaking your back.

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Here are some of the foundations of functional training:

Life, Life, Baby: Movement Patterns that Mimic Daily Life

Functional training focuses on foundational movements, such as pulling and pushing. Exercises like squats, push ups, lunges or pull ups train for this.

Functional training focuses on unilateral movements, like lunges or single leg deadlifts where you’re using one dominant leg, as this is how we move in real life to do things like walk while carrying a heavy box.

We also use plyometrics, or quick or explosive movements to train for power, such as burpees, box jumps, lateral skater hops or squat jumps. This helps when you need to sprint to catch your dog.

Functional movements focus on compound movements, where you use more than one muscle group at once instead of isolating a single muscle group. If you think about what’s involved to lift a suitcase into an overhead bin, you’re recruiting multiple muscles at once - squatting, overhead lifting, etc.

Rotational movements are also an important part of functional training. Unlike many of the single directional movements in many workouts, such as running or spinning, we train to move the body through multiple planes - lateral, backwards, etc.

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The Biggest Flex: Staying Injury-Free

The goal is a body that is resilient and capable. The most significant benefits include:

• Reduces Injury Risk: By preparing your muscles, joints, and connective tissues for life's unpredictable challenges, functional fitness significantly reduces the chance of common injuries, such as that back pain from the suitcase.
• Improves Mobility and Stability: It enhances your range of motion, strengthens stabilizing muscles (especially in the core), prevents falls, and helps maintain limber joints as you age, keeping you active and independent longer.

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Here are 5 over our top functional exercises that can be done from home [videos and short instruction]:

1. Suitcase carry
2. Stair Step Up (Lunge Pattern)
3. Incline Push Up
4. Jump squat
5. Bear crawls