Functional Fitness
it’s the knowing that You Can Do It
Functional training is a classification of exercise incorporating movements that emulate activities you experience in daily life. Functional fitness is about training your body to handle real life situations with ease and less stress.
East Side Athletic Clubs’ professional training staff promote and teach functional fitness as this concept truly supports the fact that exercise is a means to an end. In other words, your exercise regime should support what you LOVE TO DO outside of the club environment.
Wouldn’t it be nice to pick up your grandchild without experiencing back pain?
How about the ability to hike the Gorge with friends while taking limited breaks rather than holding up the gang due to personal fatigue?
Functional training readies you for real life….and real FUN!
Conventional strength training typically involves engaging one major muscle group at any one time.
Functional training movements engage numerous muscle groups, simultaneously, thereby making it more “real” in preparing you for life’s adventures.
Terri Gilreath, co-owner of East Side Athletic Clubs gives us an example: “If your goal is to safely lift a 20 pound turkey from the shopping cart and put it into the trunk of your car without straining yourself the idea of working on a selectorized weight machine doing repetitions of low lat pulls and chest presses just doesn’t cut the mustard. Functional training methodology would have you squatting slightly, with perfect posture, while lifting a medicine ball off the floor then slowly raising that ball across your core and up over your head…..using lots of various muscles for just one exercise. Using the TRX system, softballs, bosus, medicine balls, light dumbells and just your own body are KEY! Functional training readies you for DAILY LIFE!”
MAKE TIME for fitness and be sure to include FUNCTIONAL TRAINING in all of your workouts!
Here are a couple ideas to bring to your fitness training and if you have more questions reach out to a fitness trainer who can help you.
Build arm strength correctly to life up a child or pick groceries out of your shopping cart.
Strengthen leg and core muscles for carrying boxes up and down stairs.
Improve your fexibility and strength so you can do outdoor activities, gardening, and sports that you enjoy.
Gain neck and shoulder endurance for computer work.
Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.
– John F. Kennedy
