No matter what motivates you to work out, building functional strength should be in the back of your mind. “Functional strength training imitates the typical movements you might need to do on the court, in the field, at your job, or at home,” says Peter Ronai, MS, CSCS, a clinical professor of exercise science at Sacred Heart University and ACSM-registered clinical exercise physiologist. “The goal is to improve your ability to function.” And hey, who doesn’t need help in that department? Compared to exercises such as indoor cycling, which trains you to perform indoor cycling better, functional strength training prepares your body to pick up a package, lift a child, or dodge a puddle, says Grace Giles, NASM-certified trainer and owner of the functional training fitness studio, F45 Boerum Hill. “It also improves your body awareness so you can meet your strength and fitness goals faster,” she says. After all, most functional training moves recruit the core and glutes, muscle groups that protect the lower back from aches and pains so you can sidestep setbacks. Regardless of whether you’re an athlete, do manual labor, work a desk job, or are a stay-at-home parent, there are some fundamental movements you’d do well to master to get through your day and avoid injuries, Ronai says. Here are a few of them.
Primary functional strength training movements
Squat (to get out of your seat)Hinge from the hip (to lift a basket of laundry) Lunge and get back up (getting up off the floor)Horizontal pull (opening a sticky door)Horizontal push (going through a turnstyle door)Vertical push up (storing luggage in an overhead compartment)Vertical pull down (retrieving luggage from an overhead compartment)Diagonal rotation (putting on a seatbelt)
Ways to improve functional training
Functional strength training workouts are based on the planes of movement above, but they may also include variations to target smaller muscle groups or increase the challenge, Giles says. The techniques below will help you up the ante to ensure your workouts really prepare you for navigating the world, especially as you age.
Challenge your stability
Manipulating your environment can challenge the body’s nervous system to hone its proprioception, or the body’s ability to sense its environment and adjust body position accordingly, and kinesthetic awareness, or the body’s ability to adjust to changes in its environment, according to Ronai. “This can make or break someone’s balance and determine whether you trip and fall or stay steady and upright,” he says. Performing exercises while standing on a BOSU ball, a squishy surface, a rocker board, or just one leg can help train your nervous system to react outside the gym. The same goes for narrowing your stance, releasing your grip if you’re holding on, closing your eyes, or looking over your shoulder (i.e., on a stair climber). “Your body will have to recruit muscles to regain a steady position,” Ronai says—and that’s what trains you to respond the next time you stumble.
Perform compound movements
Compound movements call for using more than one region of your body at the same time. “There are more joints involved, more movement, and more muscle groups,” says Ronai—and that’s a good thing. See, in everyday life outside the gym, most movements don’t occur in one plane of motion. Imagine lifting a heavy grocery bag out of a cart and into your trunk—you’d have to hinge forward, pivot, and hinge again. Most people wouldn’t pause between “reps”—they’d put all of these movements together. “If you isolate movement to your upper body, you can end up hurting your back as you transfer weight,” Ronai explains. Rehearsing functional strength-training exercises that incorporate multiple planes of movement can help train your body to mobilize multiple segments of the body to perform complex tasks in real life.
Add explosive elements
Explosive movement is exactly how it sounds: It calls for changing your pace from slow to fast with a quick burst of energy and prepares you to react when a car runs a stop sign or a slow walker stands between you and the bus you’re about to miss. “If you play sports, you’ll be able to move more efficiently, and if you don’t play sports, it prepares you for catching your kids,” Giles says of explosive training, which becomes particularly important as you age. “As people get older, their neurocircuitry doesn’t work as quickly,” Ronai explains. “Your brain becomes less able to pass information to the muscles quickly, the muscles aren’t as adept at pickup up the message, and the muscle fibers themselves lose strength and power.” This can be a recipe for disaster—but explosive functional strength training can help. “It teaches your ‘switch board’ and muscles work together so that the muscles fire in a more adept, coordinated, quick, and forceful way,” Ronai says. At the gym, try a medicine ball slam, power clean, or power snatch and to reap these benefits.
Alter your grip
Changing the way you carry weight like a sandbag, Giles says, which can be held by the handles like a shopping bag, on one shoulder, or against your chest, can prepare you for juggling grocery bags or in one writer’s case, holding a 28-pound toddler with one arm while making dinner with the other.
Functional training exercises to add to your routine
Motivated to get started? Here are a handful of functional strength-training exercises that can build strength where you need it most and improve most and improve daily functioning.
Suspension squat to row
Squat, horizontal pull How to do it: Facing the suspension trainer anchor, hold one handle in each hand with palms facing in and elbows bent so handles are alongside your armpits. Keeping your core tight, walk your feet forward about a foot and lean back. From this position, bend the knees to sit your hips back into a squat as you extend your arms. Next, extend the legs and bend the elbows, driving them behind you to return to starting position. Lunge to shoulder pressLunge, vertical press How to do it: Hold one dumbbell in each hand at shoulder-height with palms facing in. In one fluid movement, take a step forward and bend both knees 90 degrees to lower into a lunge as you extend both arms to press the dumbbells overhead. Press into the front heel to return to starting position and lower the dumbbells to shoulders-height. Repeat on the opposite side.
Pushup
Horizontal push How to do it: Get into plank position with your shoulders stacked over your wrists and your body in a straight line between the top of your head and your heels. Keeping your core engaged, bend both elbows to lower your body toward the ground. Pause, then extend both elbows to return to starting position.
Dumbbell woodchop
Rotatation How to do it: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and hold a dumbbell with both hands. Twist to your left through the waist and pivot on the balls of the right toes as you bring the dumbbell up across your body to eye-level. From this position, rotate back to center and pivot on the ball of your left foot as you twist to the right and sweep the dumbbell down to knee level on the opposite side. Continue to rotate back and forth for as many reps as desired, then switch sides. Next up: Is Rollerblading a Good Workout?
Sources:
Peter Ronai, MS, CSCS, a clinical professor of exercise science at Sacred Heart University and ACSM-registered clinical exercise physiologist Grace Giles, NASM-certified trainer and owner of the functional training fitness studio, F45 Boerum Hill
