Understanding Functional Training

Yoga One of the latest crazes in the exercise world is functional training. If you're not familiar with this, it targets what you do, and helps you do exercises that will make you better at it. This is a great way to lose weight, since you'll be able to incorporate these exercises into your every day life. Functional training has many purposes, and when used correctly, can be a great way to lose weight.

In order to start functional training, you'll need to focus on what you do. If you are a stay at home mom, chances are you probably spend a good chunk of your time cleaning and running around. This means that aerobics and running are the best matches for your functional training exercise plan.

If you work as a construction worker, or other profession that requires a great deal of physical strength, than weight lifting or strength training is the perfect fit. Another great example is for those in high stress jobs that don't really require a lot of physical prowess. It can seem as though there aren't any exercises that would benefit this line of work, but yoga is actually quite useful in functional training.

As you can see, these exercises are designed to help you do what do you better. If you're trying to diet, adding exercise is essential if you want to keep losing weight. Why not pick exercises that will actually help you with your current line of work? This gives you not only the added benefit of losing weight, but you'll be more fit and capable of doing your job.

If you don't have a gym in your area that offers functional training, you may have to just take that initiative on your own. Try to put together a plan that targets what you'd like to be able to do better at your job or at home. For example, if you want to be able to run up the stairs to check on the kids without being out of breath, you can add some time on the stairmaster or the treadmill.

If you want to be able to hoist girder beams around a lot easier, add some arm curls into your weight lifting routine. If you find that you are frequently stressed out, add in yoga techniques that require a lot of deep breathing. You can put all of these techniques to work for you outside of the gym.

Functional training can be used by absolutely everyone, even if you don't have an actual job. We all have things that we'd like to be able to do better, even if it doesn't necessarily mean doing physical labor. The key is that functional training can also be used to bulk up your brain. You'll be getting the benefit of increased circulation with your exercises, and your brain will be able to handle stress better and stay on task. In addition, that discipline that you learn at the gym will follow you to all the other corners of your life.

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Originally posted 2008-11-23 10:23:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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6 comments ↓
#1 MizFit on 06.16.08 at 12:36 pm

I really believe in this.
when I had my training studio I was always surprised at the number of people who hired me solely so that they could and would remain able to hoist their luggage into the overhead bin!

talk about functional fitness….

#2 Susan on 06.16.08 at 4:51 pm

Thanks for the explanation. I knew of this concept, but I guess I never associated an actual name with it! :)

#3 Should You Be Trying High Intensity Interval Training? | Health, Fitness, Exercise, and Weight Loss (66 pounds in 17 weeks) on 08.20.08 at 5:36 am

[...] done properly HITT training is very effective for getting fit and losing weight. Just remember to take it slow and ease up to [...]

#4 Aster on 03.30.11 at 4:44 am

Good post! A lot of people think “functional” means a myriad of things and I agree that functional training is designed to meet the needs of the client. I also believe that if someone wants do training for solely the purpose of body shape change, then traditional strength training is a great way to go (as it’s serving the function of the clients needs), it’s worked extremely well in my own situation and also those of my clients!

#5 Matt Ovens on 09.13.11 at 7:48 pm

Well, we tried to do yoga for about 4 months now, it didn’t seem to help losing weight. I are swimming now, it does work! My wife and I have lost about 10lbs each in 3 months.

-Matt

#6 Johnny Palmer on 01.17.12 at 4:14 pm

Excellent post! High Intensity Interval Training – such as sprint intervals on the treadmill, or rounds on a boxing bag would also help to continue to burn calories throughout the day, and, depending on the type of exercises you are doing, it could come under the ‘functional training’ umbrella as well.

Johnny

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