Are you ready to take your fitness to the next level?
Whether you’re a beginner looking to get started, an athlete wanting to increase your speed and power, or an older adult hoping to stay strong and youthful as you age, functional strength training can be tailored to fit your specific needs.
This article will discuss the benefits of functional training, the different types of equipment used in a functional strength training program, why functional training is recommended over traditional strength training, and how to get started today.
So read on and discover how functional training can help you reach your goals.
Quick Summary
- Functional strength training is an excellent way to improve overall fitness, reduce the risk of injury, and increase coordination and agility.
- With the right approach, functional training can be done daily, offering physical and mental benefits like improved balance, mobility, and reduced depression.
- Functional training focuses on mimicking everyday activities based on functional movement patterns such as push, pull, hip-hinge, and knee-bend.
Can You Do Functional Training Every Day?
It depends on your fitness, age, and experience if you can do functional training daily. Most athletes, young people, and fit individuals can safely perform 5 functional training workouts per week without injury or getting chronically fatigued.
Functional training is an essential part of any fitness journey, as it helps build strength while allowing you to replicate everyday movements.
It’s possible to do functional training every day, but it’s important to listen to your body and adjust the intensity of the workout accordingly.
Factors such as your current fitness level, the intensity of the workout, and the amount of time needed for recovery should all be considered when determining the frequency of your functional training.
You can also take your functional training to the next level by increasing the intensity of the workout, which could involve tweaking the exercises, increasing the number of reps and sets, and ramping up the weight or resistance used.
To reach your peak performance, consider adding a combination of core and leg circuit training, posture and balance exercises, and isometric training two to three times a week.
You’ll want to challenge your muscles and joints to ensure you’re getting the most out of your functional training, so aim for three to five days of intense functional workouts per week.
Resistance bands can also be used to add resistance and create an even more intense workout.
What Is Functional Training?
Functional training is the type of workout that uses free weights, compound movements, and aerobic exercises to help you replicate everyday activities and build a more functional body.
The purpose of functional training is to train concrete movement patterns that have a direct effect on performance and to challenge your body in ways that traditional strength training does not.
The central aspect of functional training is instability and movement patterns, which encourage your body to work harder and build strength.
Examples of everyday movements that functional fitness training can prepare you for include:
- Bending over to pick something up.
- Lifting your kid above your head.
- Gripping tightly for a game of tug-of-war with your pup.
- Vacuuming the apartment.
- Climbing a flight of stairs.
- Loading groceries into the car.
Who Is Functional Training For?
Functional strength training is an excellent choice for anyone looking to improve their overall fitness, regardless of age, gender, or current fitness level.
It’s an incredibly beneficial form of exercise for people of all ages, genders, and fitness levels.
It can help you unlock your full potential and gain the strength and agility to tackle everyday tasks easily and confidently
Before starting a strength training program, however, consulting a physician or certified fitness trainer for guidance is essential.
Exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle; functional exercises can help you stay strong, active, and independent for years to come.
It’s never too late to start prioritizing your health and well-being, so why not try functional strength training?
Functional Strength Training For Older Adults
Older adults should prioritize functional strength training to unlock a range of physical and mental benefits, including improved balance, mobility, and strength, as well as reduced depression and increased happiness.
Taking charge of your health and well-being now can make a world of difference in the long run.
Functional strength training can help you stay strong and youthful as you age by providing your muscles with the challenge they need to perform everyday tasks, delaying the effects of age-related muscle atrophy.
Check out these exercises: squats, lunges, step-ups, and push-ups. Strengthening your body with these moves can help you stay active and independent for years to come.
Body weight is the perfect place to start for those just beginning their functional strength training journey.
You can slowly increase the weight and intensity and focus on proper form. If you ever feel unsure, don’t hesitate to consult with a fitness professional for guidance.
Functional Strength Training For Athletes
Functional strength training is a great way for athletes to take their performance to the next level. It helps enhance coordination, agility, balance, and power – all essential components of peak performance.
It is specifically designed to hone in on the specific movements athletes use, giving them the edge they need to excel.
Strength training is an important part of any athlete’s training program, and functional strength training can be a great addition.
Functional exercises like squats, overhead press, and bench press are essential for building muscle and increasing strength.
Resistance bands and free weights can also be incorporated into a functional strength training program.
With the right workout routine and guidance, athletes can see dramatic results in their performance.
Functional strength training for triathletes can be tailored to maximize their performance, while functional strength training for tennis players can be tailored to help them develop the agility and power they need to excel.
What Are The Benefits Of Functional Training?
Functional training is a powerful tool to help you reach your fitness goals and lead a healthier lifestyle. This type of training uses compound exercises that replicate everyday movements and challenge your body to move more effectively.
Through functional training, you can expect to see improvements in motor function, strength, conditioning and endurance, balance, speed and power, and even sport-specific carryover.
Functional training is an incredibly effective way to train your body for the activities you perform in everyday life.
With the right diet and exercise plan, you can increase your muscle function and coordination, leading to increased strength, improved balance, stronger core, and even better cardiovascular endurance.
By honing in on the main movement patterns used in your sport, you can increase your endurance, boost your performance, and reduce the risk of injury.
Functional training can help you move better, stay strong and youthful as you age, become more agile and coordinated, and even reduce the risk of injury.
Delaying the Effects of Age-Related Muscle Atrophy
Age-related muscle atrophy, also known as sarcopenia, is an inevitable part of the aging process. Fortunately, you can maintain your muscle mass and strength even as you age with the right diet and exercise plan.
Functional strength training is an empowering form of exercise that helps you build strength in movements you use in your everyday life.
You can stay strong and combat age-related muscle loss with exercises like squats, lunges, push-ups, and rows.
These functional strength training exercises will help you maintain muscle mass and strength, so you can stay fit and youthful for years to come.
Increases Coordination and Agility
Absolutely coordination is the key to using your body’s parts in harmony and with maximum efficiency.
Functional training is an excellent way to boost your agility and coordination. By engaging in exercises that simulate real-life movements, you can hone your body’s ability to move more effectively.
Jump, squat, lunge, and more – all of these exercises can help you hone your coordination and agility while giving your functional strength a powerful boost.
Exercises like these are tailored to engage multiple joints, which in turn helps to improve the coordination between them.
Aim to perform these exercises with feet hip-width apart and step forward with one foot at a time.
To add resistance, you can also incorporate medicine balls, free weights, and even your own body weight.
With regular practice and consistent effort, you can boost your fitness levels and reap the rewards of improved coordination and agility.
Improves Balance and Strengthens the Core
Achieving balance in functional fitness is essential for everyday activities like carrying groceries and can help you unlock a healthier and more active lifestyle.
Functional strength training is the perfect way to increase your balance and strengthen your core.
By engaging your body’s muscles in exercises that replicate everyday movements, you challenge yourself to maintain stability and improve your balance.
You can also target your core muscles, which are responsible for providing stability and support throughout your body, with exercises like planks and free weights.
Sandbag training is also an excellent way to strengthen and condition your core, as it requires you to keep your chest lifted and knees bent in a straight line for the duration of the exercise.
With regular practice and consistent effort, you can improve your fitness levels and reap the rewards of a strong core and improved balance.
Reduces the Risk of Injury
Functional training can come with a certain level of risk, with research showing that injuries can occur for every 1000 hours of training.
However, with the right guidance and safety measures, you can reap the rewards of this powerful form of exercise.
Functional training is a great way to keep yourself safe and injury-free.
It helps to improve balance, coordination, and stability, as well as correct muscle imbalances and increase joint mobility.
All of these benefits can help you stay safe and healthy while you exercise.
Research has demonstrated that functional training can be a powerful tool in protecting you from sports-related injuries.
Functional training exercises can help to strengthen your shoulder width, build muscle strength and endurance, and improve your body’s ability to perform single-joint exercises more safely.
This can help reduce the risk of injury and make activities like carrying groceries or performing exercises easier and more enjoyable.
With the right guidance and safety measures, you can reap the rewards of functional fitness training and enjoy the many benefits of strength training, weight loss, and improved balance.
Functional Fitness vs. Strength Training
Functional fitness emphasizes everyday movements using body weight and light weights, while traditional strength training focuses on isolating muscles with heavier weights.
Functional training is designed to engage multiple muscles simultaneously, while conventional training typically focuses on isolating individual muscles.
Therefore, functional training can help you build a strong foundation of movement patterns and leg strength, giving you a powerful edge over traditional strength training when it comes to boosting your strength.
Functional fitness is recommended over traditional strength training because it is designed to use the body in the way that it is supposed to be used.
Functional training also allows you to get more out of each workout and reach your fitness goals faster.
Additionally, functional training can have a variety of benefits, including improved coordination and agility, increased balance and core strength, and reduced risk of injury.
On the other hand, traditional strength training focuses on single-joint exercises and compound exercises using free weights and is more effective for increasing overall strength and body composition.
What Exercises Count As Functional Strength Training?
Functional strength training involves exercises that mimic the movements you would make in your everyday life, such as squatting, pushing, and lunging. These exercises are designed to increase your strength, balance, coordination, and agility.
Examples of functional strength training exercises include traditional bodyweight exercises like push-ups, squats, lunges, and sit-ups.
It also includes more challenging compound exercises such as burpees, plank variations, and pull-ups.
Additionally, you can use free weights, kettlebells, sandbags, and other equipment to increase the difficulty of the exercises, allowing you to further challenge your body.
Functional strength training exercises have numerous benefits, from increasing strength and coordination to reducing the risk of injury.
Performing these exercises regularly will help you become stronger, more agile, and better able to tackle the tasks of everyday life.
On top of that, functional strength training can help you build your fitness level and burn fat.
What Equipment Is Used In Functional Training?
Functional training is incredibly effective, and the right equipment can help you get the most out of your workouts. From suspension trainers and sandbags to alpha bands and battle ropes, there are plenty of tools to choose from to help you maximize your functional training sessions.
Using suspension trainers in functional training can help improve balance, stability, core strength, and flexibility, while sandbags can help improve grip strength, stability, and overall strength.
Resistance bands can be used to unlock amazing gains in strength, flexibility, and mobility, and Alphabands can be used to work out your entire body.
Rope trainers can help boost grip strength, upper body strength, and cardiovascular endurance, and battle ropes are great for building grip strength, upper body strength, and cardiovascular endurance.
All of this equipment is essential for an effective functional training session, providing resistance, introducing new challenges, and allowing for a more varied and functional workout.
How To Program Functional Training
The ultimate goal of functional fitness training is to empower individuals to move through life with ease and confidence by building strength and improving mobility.
If you are looking for someone to craft a functional strength training workout plan, fitness coaches are the perfect professionals to design a plan that will help you reach your goals.
Programming functional fitness training is an essential part of any strength program.
To do it successfully, you need to consider your experience level and your goals and then integrate functional fitness training into your program.
You should focus on exercises that require you to use multiple muscle groups at the same time, such as squats, lunges, push-ups, and pull-ups.
Crossfit workouts, functional training exercises, and traditional exercises can all be incorporated into your program.
Additionally, you should focus on performing exercises using functional movements, as these will help you build strength and improve your balance, coordination, and agility.
FAQs
Can You Get Fit With Functional Training?
Yes, you can get fit with functional training. This type of exercise focuses on movements that replicate everyday activities, allowing you to experience improved speed, muscular strength, power, balance, agility, and endurance.
Does Functional Training Burn Fat?
Yes, functional training burns fat. Resistance training can help you burn calories and boost your metabolism, so you can start seeing results faster.
How Many Calories Do You Burn in a Functional Workout?
The amount of calories burned during a functional workout is determined by a variety of factors, including the individual’s physical condition and the intensity of the workout. With the right combination of effort and dedication and increasing the intensity of your workout, you can maximize your calorie burn and reach your fitness goals.
How long should you rest for functional training?
For optimal results, you should rest at least 48 hours between strength training sessions to allow your muscles ample time to repair themselves. This allows your body and muscles to fully recover and gain the most benefit from exercise.
How to Start With Functional Training Today?
The key to successful functional training is to find a knowledgeable coach or trainer who can guide you through the process and ensure you’re using the right form and technique.
Engaging the expertise of a coach or trainer when starting functional training is essential for mastering the correct form and technique.
This is the best way to ensure you’re making the most of your time and effort and can help you reach your goals.
Once you’ve found the right coach or trainer, it’s important to start off slow and gradually increase the intensity of the workouts.
This will help prevent injuries and ensure your body is properly conditioned for the exercises.
Get started with functional training today and take your fitness to the next level.
Bio:
Vanja Vukas
Vanja is a Faculty of Sport and Physical Education student and a functional training enthusiast. He fell in love with the idea of functional strength during his sportsman years when his coach showed him movement pattern-based training. Today, he aims to convey as much knowledge as possible through his blog Functional Body Savage and create modern functional savages.
