What is functional fitness?

Functional fitness is a term that’s become increasingly popular recently! Also known as functional training, it refers to the type of training and workouts which mimic our everyday movements and activities.

Think bending, pulling, reaching, pushing, and lifting, these daily tasks can be made easier by incorporating functional fitness into your workout routine.

Read more to see how functional fitness could benefit your health - and your everyday!

Jump to:

• What are the benefits?
• Is it something everybody should be doing?
• Functional fitness exercises
• Tips for getting started

What are the benefits?

Knowing that it can boost your day-to-day movements may be the motivation for exercise you’ve been looking for!

Reduced risk of injury

By replicating movements from your day-to-day life with functional fitness, you can encourage muscle and ligament strength, which are areas of the body that are highly susceptible to injury.

Chris Wright, Head of Strength and Conditioning at Loughborough University in the UK, says it best in this Les Mills article: “Think about a mother who needs to pick her child up off the floor. That task will require movement of the ankle, knee and hip – a squat-type pattern – to lift the load. You can replicate this movement pattern on the gym floor with a deadlift. We can see that strengthening the muscles around those same joints is going to minimise her risk of injury when it comes to picking up her child.”

 

Enhanced strength

When you do functional exercises, you'll being working multiple muscle groups at once instead of targeted training - boosting your strength with reduced time and effect.

When your muscle strength improves, so does your stability, and improved stability is good news for balance and coordination too. When it comes to functional fitness, one benefit can lead to another quite nicely!

 

Being time efficient

As we’ve said above, functional fitness incorporates compound exercises (movements that engage multiple muscle groups at the same time).

Depending on your goals, this means that there may be less need to dedicate slots of time to working certain muscle groups or areas of your body, which can lead to a more time-efficient workout in the long run!

 

Is it something everyone should be doing?

One thing we love about functional training is that it can be adapted for any fitness level or ability, making it suitable for all ages*. You can do it with or without equipment too!

If you spend your day hunched over a desk, functional training works the muscles which help keep your posture strong, while improving mobility through the hips and shoulders. That’s a win-win!

With the benefit of functional fitness being so adaptable and reducing risk of injury, it can also be useful for older adults, helping them maintain balance, strength, and mobility.

Even if you don’t fall into the above, incorporating functional fitness into your workout routine can make improvements to your all-round fitness too. It doesn’t have to be something you do every day and it’s not about being able to train heavy, functional fitness is simply something to do to make moving around in everyday life easier.

 

Functional fitness exercises

Here are some of our functional fitness favourites to add into your workout:

• Squat to overhead press - this combines reaching and squatting movements
• Deadlift to dumbbell row – this is great for focusing on hip hinge movements
• Sled pulling and pushing – the clues are in the name!
• Farmer's carry with kettlebells – this mimics carrying shopping or a suitcase
• Medicine ball throw – this is similar to any task involving lifting or pushing

Tips for getting started

 

Learn the basics

Get comfortable doing the fundamentals, like squats, lunges, or planks, with lighter weights and lower resistance.

Once you get the hang of things, you can gradually up the intensity, resistance, and weight! As you become more confident, you can try out other complex exercises too.

Join a group workout class

Getting involved in a group workout class is your best bet at having tailored, functional workouts ready and waiting for you to follow! Two of our favourites are BODYPUMP and Les Mills CORE, both by Les Mills.

As we’ve said, functional training works multiple muscle groups at one time, and as a go-to group workout class for those wanting a full-body workout, BODYPUMP includes many types of functional exercises in its programming. Improved functional strength can stem from building stability and endurance in the muscles which support the core, making Les Mills CORE a great class option as well. Core strength shouldn’t be overlooked, a strong core better supports the rest of the body!

On the whole, group workout classes are great at easing you into staying active in a fun, motivational, supportive setting too.

Get a personal trainer

Without a plan to keep you on track, forming a healthy habit can feel more challenging to some people. If you’d like some extra guidance on your form, to get more confident when it comes to everyday fitness, or you’re not sure where to start with functional training, a personal trainer can help!

We have a range of PTs across our centres who are all qualified and specialise in different areas. Look out for their profiles on the Profile Boards in our centres on your next visit, which will give you more information about each one.

 

Find a group workout class and check out your nearest place to give functional fitness a go below!

Find a centre

 

If you found this blog helpful, you can view our full list of blogs  here. 

 

*As always, we recommend talking with a GP/healthcare professional before starting any new type of exercise.

 

Sources: All you need to know about functional training (Les Mills) | Les Mills Core (Les Mills) | Three moves for functional fitness (Harvard Health Publishing) |