You may have read or heard about the term "functional exercise" being thrown around by personal trainers and fitness experts. With the increased awareness about the importance of core strength, flexibility, and movement patterns, functional exercise has become quite the buzz.
So what exactly is functional exercise? The best definition I've come up with is functional exercise is simply exercise that works the muscles in your body through integration in multiple planes of motion, the same way move in everyday life.
This is in stark contrast to traditional health club machines that work your muscles in isolation. Although there are some benefits to isolating a muscle (primarily hypertrophy or increasing muscle mass) for most people the benefits of functional training greatly exceeds that of isolation training.
It is my opinion that exercise should not be something done while "sitting down." Exercise should be about conditioning the body within the 5 main pillars of human movement. These include having us push, pull, rotate, level change (think squat, step-up, step down, etc), and locomotion (think walk, run, jump, skip, etc). We train these movements primarily on our feet in a manner that replicates activities in everyday life.
The pillars of human movement do not change from person to person. All that changes is the intensity and demands placed on the body for their chosen "everyday" activities. Therefore at my Shaping Concepts personal training studio we train everybody from athletes to senior citizens with the same movements but simply change the intensity.
Every single one of us needs to reach, push, pull, squat and rotate, etc but some individuals just need to do these movements with more power, strength, endurance, or intensity.
A lot of times when you talk about functional exercise many people think its just exercise that uses stability balls, bands, medicine balls, foam rollers, and other non-traditional equipment. This is a common misconception.
While these are common training tools their use does not constitute functional training. We can train functionally with free weights and bodyweight as well. The key difference is the way in which the exercise is completed.
Somewhere along the line, exercise changed from something that worked the entire body to today being isolation movements on fixed, stationary equipment in health clubs. Physical culture of years ago included jumping jacks, handstands, push-ups, and other bodyweight exercises done most anywhere.
If you look at the pioneers of physical fitness like Eugene Sandow, Farmer Burns, Jim Pedley and others, they had magnificently built bodies all created without the use of any strength training equipment. Makes you stop and think for a second. How far have we really come with physical culture and improvements with personal fitness?
The Pitfalls of Health Club Circuit Training
When it comes to exercise most people are really uncertain about the type of exercise needed to meet their goals. Unfortunately, the one place you think would help the most has been part of the problem.
Walk into most any gym or health club in the country and you'll see the majority of people doing the same exercises. Rows of isolation equipment can be found with exercisers moving from machine to machine working on only one muscle group at a time in isolation.
I often question individuals in the gym why they selected the equipment they're using. A lot of times I'll hear "because I wanted to work [fill in the blank]" (the muscle groups shown on the equipment placard). This picture will show a part of the body that most people want to change (their midsection, inner and outer thighs, etc). They think in order to tone, firm and lose weight in those areas they should work on the machines that highlight muscles found there. Big mistake but it's not their fault; it's unfortunately what they're led to believe
The health club industry has done a poor job educating its members on how to reach their goals taking in consideration their unique needs and fitness level. The free personal training session or initial consultation is usually a joke. It's typically conducted by someone at the front desk that has little or no professional experience. After you've been shown around the club you're turned loose to do it all on your own.
Confused and embarrassed most people will just start mimicking what they see others doing in the gym. The end result is a "blind leading the blind" paradigm. No wonder people get frustrated with not seeing results then quit. Such a shame... nobody ever shared with them the TRUTH.
The traditional gym or health club today is packed with exercise equipment to work every single muscle group in isolation. The problem with this is your body doesn't work in isolation, it works with integration. It's not uncommon for people new to exercise to have muscle imbalances that affect their neck, back, knees, shoulders or hips. That's why a kinetic chain assessment completed by a qualified health or fitness professional is so valuable.
Many people that suffer from shin splints, knee problems, low back pain, sciatica, headaches, foot ailments, etc could find their problems eliminated with corrective exercise. I've seen it time and time again. Sadly, I've also seen people with muscle imbalances work out on isolation equipment that only made their situation worse.
If you're just starting out on a fitness program I'd highly recommend you consult with a knowledgeable and certified personal trainer for instruction. He or she can help you customize a program with functional exercise to cater to your individual needs.
If you'd like to learn more about functional exercise, including the top machines to avoid in a health club, you can download my free e-book entitled "The Functional Training Difference" from my website.