Functional fitness is a term that is growing in popularity and describes your ability to perform with relative comfort and ease the physical tasks that are required of you from day to day. The list is endless, but could include activities such as holding a toddler, carrying groceries, working in the yard, cleaning, and even picking something up off the ground. Those who suffer from a lack of functional fitness are more likely to experience injury or feel aches, pains, and soreness.
Elite weightlifters and body builders often strength train with an isolated approach. They use a machine to perform one exercise that targets the biceps, another for the forearms, and still others for different muscle groups. Training through isolated exercises is a good approach to achieving a new one repetition max on a certain machine, but unfortunately, this does not translate into an ability to perform the normal life activities that strength training is intended to prepare you for. These daily movements require balance, flexibility, muscular endurance, and the coordination of different muscle groups (legs, back, and arms) in addition to the pure strength of one muscle group.
Functional fitness exercises are recommended for both athletes and amateurs. Functional fitness exercises are any exercise that use multiple muscle groups in an integrated and sequential way. The exercises simulate common movements you might do at home, at work or in sports. For example, a squat is a functional exercise because it trains the muscles used when you rise up and down from a chair or pick up low objects. A squat ending in a reach, a one leg standing superman, or a rotational twist is even better because it integrates more muscles in a sequential way. You can think up exercises by starting with something you already do like a step up and then incorporate more balance, or add integrated or sequential movements.
At the start, functional fitness focuses on core strength and helping the muscles (agonists, antagonists, stabilizers, etc.) work together in a way that eliminates muscle imbalance and avoid unnecessary wear and tear or injury to the muscles. It also focuses on having your body aligned correctly and conditioned to perform daily activities properly (e.g. walking, bending, lifting, climbing stairs) without pain, injury or discomfort. Once basic muscles are balanced and strengthened, more advanced functional fitness exercises that train muscles to work together properly as a whole can be incorporated.
Below are a few ideas for functional fitness exercises to get you started:
Caterpillar Walkout
Stand tall with feet shoulder-width apart and hands resting at sides. Lower hips into a squat position with hands in front of feet and palms on the floor. Quickly walk hands out until body is in pushup position, a straight line from head to heels. Pause, then reverse direction back to starting position.
Coach's Tip: To build greater symmetry in your hips and legs, try this exercise on one leg. Begin in the starting position with only your right leg on the floor. Perform the move for 30 seconds, then switch to the left leg for the remainder of the time.
Lean Tower of Pisa
Stand tall with feet hip-width apart and arms extended out to sides parallel to the ground. Brace core and raise right knee to navel level until it forms a 90-degree angle with your body. Slowly rotate torso while leaning forward at hips and reaching right hand down to left foot. (As you lean forward, right leg will extend back behind hips.) Pause and reverse motion back to starting position, keeping right leg off the ground throughout the entire movement. After 30 seconds, switch to left leg.
Coach's Tip: Aim to form a "T" with your body with your leg fully extended back behind you and your torso parallel to the floor.
Get-Up
Lie face-up with legs fully extended, hip-width apart, right arm reaching toward the ceiling in front of chest, and left arm at side with palm on the floor. In one strong movement, draw both ankles toward glutes and lift torso upward as right hand punches up. Continue driving toward the ceiling, pressing into the floor with left palm and heels, to come to standing with right arm fully extended overhead. Reverse direction, only using right hand to lower back to starting position. Switch hands so left hand extends in front of chest and repeat. Continue alternating arms.
Coach's Tip: Be certain that you only use one arm to stand and lower yourself back down to the ground.
Skipping Olympian
Stand tall with feet hip-with apart, arms extended out to sides parallel to the ground. Keeping right knee bent, quickly swing it backward, out to the side, then in front of your body, hopping left foot off the ground as if you were skipping. When right foot touches the ground, switch legs. Continue alternating between legs.
Coach's Tip: To assure proper spine stability, avoid leaning forward at the hip and keep your chin parallel to the ground.
Chop Squat
Stand tall with feet together and arms extended overhead, fingers interlocked. Brace core and quickly jump off the ground. Land in a wide squat with thighs parallel to the ground while swinging arms toward right hip until they come to rest just outside right knee. (You will be performing a chopping motion with your arms.) Jump back to starting position and alternate chopping to right and left sides.
Coach's Tip: To increase strength gains throughout this move, jump higher in and out of the squat.
Uni-Plank Lift
Begin in a traditional pushup position. Raise right hand and left leg 1 inch off the ground. This is your starting position. Brace core and quickly raise both until they are parallel to ground. Continue lowering and raising both extremities for 30 seconds, then switch to opposite arm and leg.
Coach's Tip: To avoid placing unwanted stress on your neck, keep eyes focused on the floor.
Wimbledon
Begin in a traditional lunge position with right foot forward and left leg positioned 2 feet behind hip. (Right thigh will be parallel to the floor with knee bent to 90 degrees, while left knee is as close to the floor as possible without touching.) Keeping hands in front of chest as if holding a tennis racket, brace core and jump as far to the right as possible. Upon landing, jump back to the left. Continue jumping side to side.
Coach's Tip: Your goal is to jump back as soon as you land.
If you train your body in an integrated way using functional training exercises, you will gain more coordination, better balance, improved posture, more ease with everyday activity, increased functional strength, and decreased chance of injury in sports or daily life.
Resources
The above exercises were 7 Functional Fitness Exercises from Shape.com
12 Basic Functional Core Exercises
7 Minute Scientific Workouts
Darebee Military Fit Course
Functional Fitness: The Workout Built To Help You With Real Life Chores
8 Best Equipment-Free Strength Exercises for Older Adults