At DFit Training Studio, one of our core focuses is functional training. This is a term that many of our members have grown familiar with and we'd like to take a moment to highlight what functional training really is and why it is an integral part of our approach to fitness.
What is Functional Training?
Functional training is a type of exercise regimen that focuses on improving your ability to perform everyday activities efficiently and safely. It emphasizes movement patterns that mimic real-life movements, targeting multiple muscle groups and promoting overall physical well-being. These real-life movements can range anywhere from carrying groceries to climbing stairs, or even just bending down to tie your shoes. Through exercise, you can increase your strength, balance, and mobility that has a direct carryover to everyday movements.
Core Principles of Functional Training:
1.) Movement Patterns: Functional training revolves around training the body to perform essential movement patterns. These include squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, hip hinging, and rotating. The idea is to enhance how well you perform these movements in daily life.
2.) Multi-Planar Exercises: Unlike traditional weightlifting that often aims to isolate specific muscles through a fixed range of motion, functional training incorporates exercises through multiple planes of motion. This means you work your body in various directions—forward, backward, sideways, and rotationally.
3.) Balance & Stability: Many functional exercises emphasize balance and core stability, which are crucial for preventing injuries and improving overall strength. Exercises might involve balancing on one leg, using stability balls, or performing movements on unstable surfaces.
4.) Integrated Muscle Groups: Functional training often uses compound movements that activate several muscle groups at once. For example, a squat-to-press exercises engages the legs, core, and upper body simultaneously, improving coordination and overall strength.
Key Components:
1.) Bodyweight Exercises: Many functional exercises use your own bodyweight for resistance. Movements like bodyweight squats, push-ups, and planks are not only foundational because they mimic everyday movements that are often done with our own weight, but because they can be modified to different fitness levels.
2.) Free Weights & Resistance Bands: Functional training frequently incorporates free weights (like dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells) because, unlike machines, they often require you to stabilize your body as you move. Resistance bands are key because of the varying degrees of tension experienced at different points of the movement, just like daily activities.
3.) Compound Movements: Simply put, compound exercises are those that involve multiple muscles across multiple joints. Exercises such as deadlifts, kettlebell swings, and bench press are classified as compound movements. These exercises are key to functional training because they not only mimic real-world activities, but require coordination and strength from multiple muscle groups.
4.) Mobility & Flexibility: Effective functional training often includes stretching and mobility work to ensure joints and muscle are flexible through their entire range of motion. This helps to prevent injuries and improve overall movement efficiency, both inside and outside the gym.
Why is Functional Training Important?
Key Benefits:
1.) Injury Prevention: By training your body to move efficiently in everyday scenarios, functional training helps reduce the risk of injury both during exercise and in daily life. Functional training can also aid in rehabilitation from injuries by restoring proper movement patterns.
2.) Core Stability: As mentioned previously, many functional exercises engage your core, improving stability and posture. A strong and stable core promotes better balance and coordination, reducing the risk of falls and leading to better performance in workouts and a stronger foundation for overall health.
3.) Increased Strength & Mobility: Functional training focuses on practical strength—helping you move better, not just lift heavier. It enhances your range of motion, flexibility, and joint health which makes daily tasks easier.
4.) Better Performance: Whether your goals include sports, hobbies, or simply feeling better as you go about your day, functional training improves overall performance by targeting the body as a whole rather than isolation of muscle groups. This often leads to more efficient workouts because the exercises integrate multiple movements and muscle groups.
How DFIT Training studio Incorporates Functional Training
Our trainers carefully design workouts that prioritize movements that closely match daily activities. This approach ensures that you're not only getting a great workout but also improving your ability to move freely and efficiently in everyday life. Furthermore, functional exercises are versatile in that they can be tailored to different fitness level and goals. They are commonly used in rehabilitation settings to aid recovery and in athletic training to enhance sport-specific performance. We utilize functional training among general population clients because it improves their functional strength and mobility, enhancing their quality of life.
Often times, our workouts are done in a circuit. Circuit training pairs well with functional exercises because it simulates the real-world demands of performing multiple movements in sequence. By rotating through exercises, you not only build strength and stability but also train your body to transition smoothly between different movement patterns—just like you do in daily life. Additionally, circuit style training leads to increased muscular and cardiovascular endurance allowing individuals to build muscle and burn fat at the same time.
In summary, functional training is about preparing the body to handle real-world activities safely and effectively. By focusing on essential movement patterns, multi-planar exercises, strength, and stability, it aims to improve your physical capabilities and quality of life.
Comments