Functional exercise are movements that mimic everyday activities.

These exercises can be modified to suit both beginner and advanced exercise routines and are great for weight loss! They are fun, complex and can you challenge you both in and out of the gym.

FUNCTIONAL EXERCISE & MOVEMENT

There has been a shift in mainstream exercise i.e. walking on the treadmill or doing some biceps curls to more functional movements. But, what is functional? what does it involve and where did it all come from?

Put simply, functional exercise is any movement that mimics activities that we do every day. They are exercises which involve the movement of multiple joints or body parts. Nowadays, this definition has been stretched to incorporate movements which we don’t necessarily conduct every day.

Functional exercise requires multiple muscles to be used, in which we see the upper, lower and abdominal muscle working to together in comparison to a single muscle unit. As with all fitness modalities, functional exercise has its place in the world of health and fitness but it doesn’t rule out the other modes of fitness.

BENEFITS OF FUNCTIONAL EXERCISES

• Improves your everyday movements i.e. squats, step ups, lifting – improvement in general day to day movability.
• Increases flexibility and coordination.
• Improves posture and balance.
• Increases abdominal strength and whole-body stability.
• Enhances athletic performance.
• Suitable for people of all ages.
• Burns more calories due to more muscle movements.
• Ability to improve multiple fitness principles; speed, strength, power, cardiovascular fitness, muscle, endurance and flexibility.

THINGS TO CONSIDER

• Practice and time is required to be able to perform the movements correctly.
• Some movements require a certain amount of flexibility, strength and mobility before performing them.
• Advanced exercises can increase the risk of injury.

Source: Exercise Right