Don’t like exercise machines? Get and stay fit with a functional exercise regimen …

Some people seem to naturally dislike the idea of exercising using the type of machines you find in a gym as a means of physical exercise.

So what do you do then?

Developing a personal exercise program of functional training may be the perfect answer for you!

However, functional training isn’t just for those people who dislike exercise equipment; functional training can be a beneficial and effective part of anyone’s personal training regimen.

WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL TRAINING?
Functional fitness is a type of training that prepares your body for real-life movement and activity. This type of training usually relies on using your own body weight as your primary or only source of resistance, although a few pieces of fitness “equipment” (e.g., medicine ball, stability ball, bosu ball, some free weights or exercise bands, etc.) may be included in some functional exercises. According to the Mayo Clinic, functional training “… trains your muscles to work together and prepares them for daily tasks by simulating common movements you might do at home, at work, or in sports.” Real life movements such as squatting, lifting, pulling and reaching can be improved by incorporating those movements into your exercise program, which is exactly what functional training does.

SEVEN FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT PATTERNS
You’ve probably never considered the fact there are seven specific types of movements your body depends on to do everything it does. But a competent Personal Trainer focuses on these seven functional movement patterns in developing a thorough and effective functional training program for a client. Traditional strength training programs focus on developing a single muscle group at a time, but that isn’t how your body functions in real life. That’s why many Personal Trainers believe functional training is a better way to develop personal fitness; the training philosophy is something like this: “The body is made up of several complex systems that work together as one unit. While exercising, one should focus on movement patterns, rather than isolated muscle groups, to build functional total body strength, power, and stamina.”

Those seven functional movement patterns are:

• • Squat.
  • Lunge.
  • Push.
  • Pull.
  • Hinge.
  • Twist.
  • Gait (walk).

Whether you dislike exercise equipment, or are used to traditional training using equipment, and regardless of your personal exercise goals (to lose weight, build lean muscle, improve overall fitness health, etc.), functional training can achieve whatever your fitness objectives might be. Many who have only been exposed to traditional training and are more into “building muscle” often immediately dismiss the idea of functional training because they make the mistake of thinking exercising without heavy weights or using machines in gyms can’t build the muscle they want … but it can! The difference is the type of resistance used; in the case of functional training, it most often is your own body weight, but some equipment, including weights, can be integrated into functional training to achieve training objectives.

Here’s something to consider: If you only develop muscle groups individually, those muscle groups may increase strength and power, but that doesn’t mean that you’ve developed functional total body strength, power, and stamina; but that is the objective of functional training. Also, your fitness training doesn’t have to be an “either/or” — either traditional training or functional training — a combination of the two might be the perfect fit for your goals, needs, and interests.

WHAT DOES FUNCTIONAL TRAINING LOOK LIKE?
You can think of functional training as the “organic” version of exercise because it’s natural with every human being. Our bodies were developed with the intention of having all of our muscles work together and support each other to accomplish certain movements and tasks. Isolating certain muscle groups to add mass was not what our bodies were naturally made for.

One of the benefits of functional strength training is that it can be done with minimal (or no) equipment. The foundation of functional training is built on the seven functional movement patterns mentioned previously, and training in those seven patterns can be done in numerous environments, from your living room, bedroom, or garage, to your office, hotel room, outdoors, or in a gym.

Here are several types of exercises for functional training (NOTE: These are listed in random order, and you can search sites like YouTube or Google for video examples of how to do any of these exercises correctly):

• • Squats (various types: bodyweight, jump, on a bosu ball, goblet, etc.).
  • Lunges (various types: standing, walking, reverse, lateral, Bulgarian split, etc.).

  

  • Push ups.
  • Pull ups.
  • Crunches (various types: using stability ball, bicycle crunches, medicine ball toss crunch, etc.).
  • Sit ups.
  • Plank (various types: regular, palm, side, dumbbell plank row, etc.).
  • Torso rotation with medicine ball.
  • Mountain climber.
  • Bear crawl.
  • Woodchops.
  • Wind mills.
  • Glute bridge.
  • Kettlebell deadlift.
  • Kettlebell swing.
  • High knee sprints.
  • Jumping jacks.
  • Farmer’s walk.
  • Sled pull/push.
  • Turkish get-up (with or without weight).
  • Bench dips.
  • Burpees.
  • Step ups.
  • Box jump.
  • Renegade rows.
  • Stair climber.
  • Jumping rope.
  • Deadlifts.
  • Overhead press.

Those are just some of the kinds of exercises that can be included as part of a complete functional training program, or can be integrated as part of your traditional training program.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF FUNCTIONAL TRAINING?
They are multiple and include:

Improved healthy movement. Training your body in each movement pattern will help to keep you from creating muscle imbalances that can result in pain, tightness, and poor movement patterns.

Improved daily tasks. Functional training prepares your body for all the things you use your body for in real life, so things like reaching up to retrieve something, bending over to pick up something, managing wiggly children, climbing the stairs to an upstairs apartment or second floor of your home, and other regular daily tasks become easier as you progress in functional training.

Build strength and muscle. Both traditional and functional training builds your strength if you exercise consistently, and both are effective at building lean muscle.

Strengthens bones. Traditional and functional training can increase your bone density, which supports skeletal health and strength.

Burns calories and fat. All types of strength training not only burns calories during the workout, but can also increase your metabolic rate so that you burn calories and fat more efficiently throughout the day.

Improves mood. Exercise of any kind directly benefits your mental health and can improve your mood and contribute to other habits that support mental wellbeing, like getting good sleep.

Reduced risk of injury. As you improve your functional movement in your exercise program, you learn to transfer that same good form to performing regular tasks of daily living, and that can help reduce the risk of injury.

Expensive equipment or gym membership isn’t required. It is possible to have a functional training program that doesn’t require the purchase of any equipment, but it is helpful to have a few things (some free weights or exercise bands, stability ball, etc.) to help you advance in your exercises.

CONCLUSION
So if you really don’t want to bother with a gym membership or exercise equipment, you can be encouraged that you can still have a complete personal exercise program for whatever your fitness objectives are. And whatever those goals are, I personally encourage you to at least integrate some functional training into your personal exercise regimen.

Scotty