Functional strength training involves getting your body to move in different directions, paths of motion (front and back, side to side and rotation) and moving multiple body parts together. This approach to exercise is embraced by many fitness professionals because of its versatility and adaptability to different clients. There is almost no limit to what you can do in functional training because it is only limited by your ability to move and your creativity. Also, functional strength training works your entire body, allowing you to burn more calories at higher intensities.
Significance
Functional strength training helps you to move more fluidly and be able to use your entire body to perform feats of strength, such as squatting, lunging and lifting. It also teaches you to move and stabilize your core properly, which maintains your balance and posture, and provides the source of strength and power. You also learn how to transfer energy from one body part to another body part. A common example is the leg drive, where you push against the ground to perform a lift or jump. This is an important foundation for sprinters, martial artists and gymnasts.
Considerations
According to physical therapist Gray Cook, founder of Functional Movement Systems, always start your functional training from your inside to the outside, meaning that you work on stability and mobility before progressing to more complex and dynamic movements. If you train gross-movement patterns and performance, such as pushing, pulling and squatting, without first training stability--which is your ability to control balance and movement--and mobility, he states that you would have an injury rate of 50 percent.
Misconceptions
Many people believe that by exercising one body part, they can reduce the size of that part and burn fat from that area, such as doing sit-ups with the goal of reducing your stomach size. However, fat loss occurs only when you expend more energy (calories) than you consume per day, and it does not matter if the calories come from fat, protein or carbohydrates. Also, your body does not burn body fat in specific areas, because the fat-burning process involves your entire body. Doing repetitive exercises with resistance can cause the muscles to increase in size, resulting in bigger thighs, stomach or arms.
Successful long-term weight loss involves a combination of healthy and balanced eating, regular exercise that works your entire body, healthy lifestyle and lower stress.
Sample System
A sample template for functional strength training for weight loss would be the superset system, where you perform two or three exercises back to back with no rest between exercises. Each exercise trains a certain movement pattern, and you can use different equipment or the same equipment. For example, a superset of a pushing and pulling exercise would be a push-up and pull-up, where you do one set of each exercise. In the second and third sets, you can modify each exercise by changing your hand or feet positions. This method increases your muscular endurance and fat-burning potential.
Benefits
One major benefit of functional strength training is that it maximizes your calorie expenditure in less time when compared to isolated machine and body part training. Because you are moving multiple body parts and in different directions, you are also increasing your calorie expenditure. Functional strength training also increases lean muscle mass, which naturally burns fat.
References
- "Athletic Body in Balance"; Gray Cook; 2003
- "Athletic Development: The Art and Science of Functional Sports Conditioning"; Vern Gambetta; 2006
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