FUNCTIONAL TRAINING

Functional Training is nothing new, we have been moving this way for many years. Athletes and strongmen were lifting, bending and twisting hundreds of years ago. Functional training as a concept is to build on solid foundations what we have been around for many years. We are designed to move in this manner and so, training like this prepares us for our daily tasks and jobs. Functional training can be defined as movement or exercise that allows us to perform our tasks with better performance or efficiency.

The base principles of functional training

• To train functionally we must firstly use functional tools, these are tools that allow our body to move un-restricted with no boundaries. They allow us to move in all planes of motion and integrate our whole body. The key concepts that we should try to achieve in our training are as follows:
  • Movements should be multi-planar, working across all 3 planes of motion
  • Movements should be integrated, so we are using our whole body
  • Movements should be fully enriched, so we are challenging our brain as well as our body when moving

• We should aim to be standing on our own feet and getting contact with the floor throughout the movement. Our only point of contact with the ground is our feet so we need to make sure we train in this manner as well.
• Functional training should also have an element of fun in it. The body should be challenged physically and mentally when we exercise and functional training does this for us. Especially when we use exciting functional training tools.

The benefits of functional training

The benefits of functional training are vast. On short, you can pretty much achieve anything you want when training functionally. By choosing a variety of functional tools and selecting the right exercises, training variables and load for your goals, the vast majority of the major health and fitness goals can be achieved.

You can train for:

• Strength
• Power
• Speed
• Flexibility and range of motion
• Muscular endurance
• Cardio vascular fitness

We can use functional training tools to:

• Achieve a metabolic training effect which helps us strip body fat and get leant; 
• Get an intense cardiovascular workout which will help improve our aerobic and anaerobic energy systems
• Train for sports specific fitness
• Help in injury prevention and injury rehabilitation
• Help improve posture
• Help improve our function and ability to perform everyday tasks
• Work with anyone, from the complete beginner, youth, older client or athlete. 

The trendiest functional training accessories are :Kettle bells, core bags, saq ladders, saq hurdles, saq speed resistors, boxing equipment, medicine balls, core board, dumbbells, barbells, the landmine, ViPR, TRX, Bulgarian bags, Indian clubs are all part of a good functional workout.

Functional training in the future

Functional training will never really go away. It's just now people have put a name to this type of training. As the general public starts to learn the benefits of this type of training and realize that fixed machines are not all that good for us we are only going to see more growth in this area. We will have more and more gyms with big open functional training spaces where members can come in a move, play and have fun with their training. This is a very important part of the training, the experience we get when we train functionally is a fun one, full of challenges, mental and physical stimulations along with all of the other benefits. 

Start expecting gyms to have functional training zones, group functional training on the gym floor and more members moving!

 It's a very exciting future and one in which our members are going to have plenty of benefits, getting a far greater experience from their club and this is what it's all about.