Fitness is meant to help you trim down, slim down, get into better shape, and look and feel better. But functional fitness adds a different layer to your exercise routine. While you may be able to lift heavy weights at the gym, you may throw your back out getting your suitcase out of the trunk of your car. Functional fitness exercise prepares you to complete everyday tasks efficiently and in a safe manner.
Train Your Muscles
Functional fitness is a way to train your muscles through exercises that are designed to help you take on everyday tasks. Carrying the groceries, playing with the kids and managing your normal duties are going to be easier on your body once you start doing functional fitness exercises regularly.
Through functional fitness exercises, you will be training multiple muscle groups at the same time. You will also be working out muscles that you use commonly for everyday tasks, like cleaning and grocery shopping.
Functional Fitness Exercises
You’re probably already familiar with the most common functional fitness exercises. Lunges, squats and bicep curls are all examples of functional fitness exercises. These exercises help strengthen and tone your muscles for everyday tasks. Functional fitness also concentrates on range of motion. For example, if you are going to do a squat, continue your squat by standing tall and reaching your arms straight up into the air. Practice torso twists while you are walking if you are carrying your laundry or another object.
Many functional fitness exercises can be performed by bodyweight alone, so you won’t have to add extra equipment to your workout routine if you don’t want to. However, you can support your exercise regimen with weights, resistance bands, kettlebells and more.
Through functional fitness, your overall body strength and flexibility will be improved — and you will notice. Bending down to pick an item up off the floor, reaching up to dust a high shelf or twisting to grab something from the cabinet will be a little bit easier and feel more natural. Plus, you reduce the risk of pulling a muscle.
Give the functional fitness workout a try by creating an exercise program that uses fluid movements like lateral lunges and side squats in conjunction with bicep curls and more. People of almost any fitness level can perform these simple exercises. If you can squat, lunge, and rotate your torso, you can practice functional fitness.
The New Trend With Classic Exercise
Functional fitness is a big trend right now, and you will see classes focusing on these exercises cropping up at gyms and studios everywhere; but the movements used in functional fitness have been around for a long, long time. Squats, lunges, curls and functional fitness exercises work, and that’s why they’re going to keep coming back and keep being trendy. This summer, enjoy a classic workout and start becoming more high-functioning in all of your daily activities.