What is Functional Training and Do I Need It?

Functional Training is a group of exercises designed to help compliment the actual activities that you perform on a daily basis. Functional Training originated in the field of rehabilitation as physical therapists designed actual exercises that were similar to your day to day movements that you do while at work or at home. Originally these exercises were performed as part of post surgery therapy, but more recently they have been implemented in to all kinds of programs for people at different physical fitness levels and seeking different results. Since these exercises have been proven to be very beneficial for anyone, there is an ever increasing number of health & fitness professionals using these exercises in the programs being designed for there clients.

The National Academy of Sports Medicine had really launched Functional Training in to the every day workout programs of every day people. This was the foundation program for all of the personal trainers that worked nationally under me so I can attest that NASM really set the bar for Functional Training. NASM actually re wrote there whole personal training certification program around the Functional Training model.

Most of the equipment that you find in gyms and health clubs are actually weight training exercises that are designed for targeting specific muscle groups. Muscle groups which most of us don’t even use in the activities of daily lives. The key to Functional Training is to actually adopt movements and exercises that will compliment the movements that you make in your daily life and will actually help prevent many injuries by doing so.

Body weight exercises are my personal favorite of Functional Training exercises. Over the past 12 years in the Health & Fitness industry I have seen a significant decrease in the amount of body weight exercises that people are doing. Many personal trainers have gone away from these and some have never used them. Body builders really frown upon body weight exercises. Having been a competitive body builder myself and understanding the benefits of these exercises, I would say that they are VERY beneficial to everyone as they can provide great improvements in endurance, flexibility and even increase in strength. Body weight exercises are great because they can be done anywhere.

Although there are tremendous benefits from Functional Training, it alone is not a sufficient program for optimal fitness. Functional training should be combined with strength training, core training, stretching and a cardiovascular program for maximum benefit.

So, I hope that I’ve answered the “what” and YES, I certainly would recommend making it part of your workout routine.