Unleash Your Inner Athlete and Begin Functional Training

With so many different types of exercises to partake in it can often be difficult to know where to begin.

You may find yourself surfing the Internet to find a good workout, but you simply can’t figure out which type of exercise would be best.

Should you do a strength workout? A HIIT work out? Yoga? Kickboxing? Pilates? Lay on the floor and scroll until you become so overwhelmed that you decide to avoid working out altogether?

Let’s not catastrophize, and let’s take a look at the facts.

If you want to increase your overall health and wellness, the most important thing is that you are moving your body in a way that feels good to you.

If you want to optimize your workouts to reap the most benefits for your health and wellness, then you should ensure your workout routine includes functional training.

What is Functional Training?

You may have heard the word functional training thrown around before, but what does it actually mean?

To put it simply, functional training is a type of training that prepares your body for performing everyday activities more easily.

Hence, it’s functional.

You aren’t going to partake in arbitrary movements that look cool but provide you with no functionality in your everyday life. We’re looking at you, bicep curls.

Functional training focuses on movements such as bending, twisting, lifting, and reaching. Some examples of functional exercises are squats, deadlifts, pullups, pushups, and lunges. These are compound movements (movements that engage multiple muscles and joints), which means you’re getting more bang for your buck with each exercise.

Functional training may utilize resistance bands, weights (dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls), or your body weight. They can be incorporated into HIIT workouts and strength workouts. For this reason, functional training can just as easily be added to an at home workout routine as it can be to a gym routine.

Benefits of Functional Training

The major benefit of functional training is that you will be training for your life. It’s not about having the biggest biceps or the biggest booty.

It’s about prioritizing what is important for you in your life.

Maybe you want to be able to perform house chores without aches and pains.

Maybe you want to try out a new sport or hobby but are afraid of physical limitations.

Or maybe you want to be able to get outside and kick the soccer ball with your kids (or grandkids) without worrying about getting fatigued 5 minutes in.

Functional training can help you in all of those areas.

But you won’t just be improving your ability to perform daily activities easier. Studies have shown that athletes who utilize functional training can increase their speed, muscular strength, power, balance, and agility.

So, if you are a gym junkie or want to excel in a particular sport, functional training can take your performance in those areas to the next level.

Sounds like a pretty good gig, huh?

So, how do you get started?

5 Unique Functional Training Exercises to Try Today

Here are 5 unique functional training exercises that you can try today. These are all full body movements that will require focus and attention to form.

These moves also provide a cardiovascular challenge so keep an eye on your heart rate and rest when you need.

Farmer’s walk

Great for muscle, endurance, and mobility.

You can use dumbbells or kettlebells to execute this exercise.

To perform this move start by placing the weights on the floor on each of your sides. Stand between the weights about shoulder width apart. Bend at the hip as if to sit into a chair, while reaching both arms down to grab the weights. Once you have the weights in your hand using an overhand grip, deadlift the weights up to your starting position. Ensure your back is straight and your core is engaged. From here, walk with the weights grasped firmly in your hand to your desired distance (try about 10 steps forward and 10 steps back). Once you have reached your goal, hinge at the hips and place the weights back on the ground.

Dumbbells thruster

Great for improving coordination, endurance, balance, and strengthening your core.

A set of dumbbells is best for this move.

Begin with the one dumbbell in each hand. Stand shoulder width apart with the dumbbells at your shoulders. Jump down into a wide legged plank. Your arms should be right under your shoulders. Engage your core. Hold for a beat. Jump your feet to meet your hands. From here use all the power from your lower body to explode up to a standing position while simultaneously doing an overhead press. Return to starting position.

Plate snatch with reverse lunge

Great for total body strength, speed, and improving core stability.

A plate or dumbbell can be used for this move.

Begin this movement with the weight at your chest and your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Hinge at the hips as if to sit in a chair and drop the weight as close to the floor as you can. Then shoot up using all the power from your lower body. As you shoot up you will transition into a reverse lunge position while also thrusting the weight overhead. Once you have completed a lunge on one side, return to your starting position. Then, run through the sequence of events again and lunge to the opposite side.

Lateral drop squat with forward extension

Great for endurance, speed, and lower body strength.

A dumbbell, kettlebell, plate, or medicine ball can be used for this exercise.

Begin with the weight in both hands at chest level. Stand straight with feet about shoulder width apart. Engage your core. Step one foot out to the side and drop into a squat. At the same time push the weight straight out in front of you. Focus on making this movement explosive. Then bring your feet back together as you stand up and bring the weight back to your chest.

Woman/Man maker

Great for balance, strength, and body conditioning.

A set of dumbbells is best for this move.

To perform this move start with one dumbbell in each hand at your shoulders. Stand tall and engage your core. Next, drop down into a wide legged plank. Your arms should be directly under your shoulders. Engage your core. Perform one push up. Once back in the plank position, perform a row with each arm, one at a time. Ensure that your elbow is pulled back and does not flare out. Then jump your feet to meet your hands. Return to a standing position. Now curl the dumbbells up to your shoulders and press them overhead. From here, perform one lunge on both the left and right legs (while keeping the dumbbells overhead).

Conclusion

Functional training has many benefits and can be easily added into any workout routine.

The goal is to ensure that your workout regimen is well-rounded and will allow you to perform day-to-day activities more easily.

Once you get the hang of how to incorporate these exercises into your routine start to experiment and have fun with it! Afterall, exercise and fitness are all about allowing you to live your best, most fulfilling life.

References:

Xiao W, Soh KG, Wazir MRWN, Talib O, Bai X, Bu T, Sun H, Popovic S, Masanovic B and Gardasevic J (2021) Effect of Functional Training on Physical Fitness Among Athletes: A Systematic Review. Front. Physiol. 12:738878. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2021.738878

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