Functional Fitness
Functional fitness is about training your body for real life situations. Sure it’s great to be able to bench press huge amounts of weight and complete 30 good push-ups- and I’m not talking about those girlie knee down push-ups, but will that help you in your everyday life?
Conventional weight training work outs are excellent ways to strengthen isolated muscle groups. Functional fitness is about training teaching your muscles to work together. You need to teach your body to control and balance its own weight.
Integration is the key to functional exercise. One example is the bent row. Holding a free weight, bend over at the waste with a flat back. With your arms hanging straight down, pull the weight up towards your shoulders as your elbows point towards the ceiling. This exercise integrates the muscles of your back, shoulders, arms and by its nature your whole body. Usually with functional exercises you’ll be standing on your feet and supporting your own weight when you lift anything. Stability balls and wobble boards are also great tools for teaching your body balance while lifting weights. Martial Arts training can also be great for teaching balance and stability. High kicks and spinning kicks facilitate balance and strength. Functional exercises are more neurologically demanding than traditional strength training. Women, by nature are weaker than men, but that doesn’t mean we’re helpless! I’ve been working out regularly for twenty five years. I alternate between aerobics, weight training and toning, Pilates, yoga and TaeKwonDo. I’m confident in my strength even at my age. Functional fitness should be a part of every woman’s exercise program.
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