You walk into a fitness centre and you observe a member monkeying around you, so you ask them what the hell they're up to. The answer will probably be "functional training". But functional training is not just a circus act, or variation training.
Functional training is movement training. In functional training, you move to increase your performance, whereas in weight training you move to cause hypertrophy, or to increase the size of your muscle tissue. Weight training works on the overload principle while functional training is based on the science of movement.
Functional training is purely based on the laws of physics. Take bench pressing for example. It's an exercise that involves your pecs, shoulders and triceps as assisting muscle groups. In functional training, this same exercise is made into a pushing activity, so why use only your pecs if you have pushing muscles in your lower body, core and upper body? So you integrate and use a team of muscles to create maximum force. The basic goal of functional training is to produce maximum force.
Functional training works on your core and back muscles in particular, while also improving the overall strength of your muscles, creating balance, and preventing injuries.
If done the right way, functional training can make your everyday activities simpler and easier, to improve your quality of life. Older adults can use this training to increase agility, flexibility, and balance, and reduce falls. Functional training is about conditioning your body to function correctly.
To know more about how functional training is done, check the video.
*Image courtesy: Shutterstock
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