Functional Fitness. One of many, if not seemingly, unending buzzwords and catchphrases being emphasized within the fitness world. Eat “clean,” muscle “toning,” H.I.I.T., “active rest,” “active” recovery. It can feel like a lot to keep track of.
A quick Google search — as one does in the modern world — provides many definitions that are all more or less the same. They all seem to make reference to ‘activities performed in daily life,’ or how we function from day to day. Per Wikipedia: “exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life.”
It is important to ask the question when talking about being functional for daily activities: functional for what? Functional fitness for a university basketball player is different than it is for your 70-year-old grandmother. Functional fitness should serve you in what you do in your daily life, but not all of us have the same daily activities. The problem is that for many of us, daily life is sedentary and lacks activity in general.
Functional fitness doesn’t have to be as complicated as the Olympic clean and jerk. Functional fitness is a spectrum – more like the activities we do (or should be doing) in our daily life.
There is a very important difference between simply functioning and being functional, or rather, functionally sound. As fitness professionals we should focus on more happening at one time. Both ends of the spectrum that we’re describing here can have their respective impractical extremes. Practicality prevails here as in most areas.
Not exercising = not functional. So even something such as bicep curls are functional (more functional than doing nothing), but they are on the end of being less functional. Less overall is happening at once, therefore the transference of benefit to daily life is less. On the other extreme, however, social media influencers are guilty of adding unnecessary equipment or steps to tried and true, already perfectly functional exercises (please stop squatting on stability balls, you’re going to hurt yourself).
Six Key Exercises
Hip hinges, squats, lunges, pushes, pulls and twisting (or preventing twisting) are the big six human movement patterns. Getting strong and proficient in all of these and their many variations will make you a more functional, pain-free human being with better balance and less injuries.
They are also most likely to serve you in natural human movement. The greatest example of this would be hip hinging, otherwise known as Deadlifts. Since the dawn of time, human beings have been bending over and picking things up. It is most likely the most common form of physical demand from a strength perspective that any of us are going to engage in day to day. Despite sedentary lifestyles that most of us live (which thereby makes it more important to avoid injuries), we’re always picking things up. Consequently we’re also always injuring our backs or are suffering from back pain. Deadlifts strengthen the legs and low back and teach us how to properly pick heavy things up (thereby lessening the chance of injury).
Because functional exercise utilizes more of your body at once — that is, if we’re referring to the more functional end of the spectrum — that means more energy expenditure is happening. More movement happening at once = more challenging = more calories burned (i.e. higher metabolism – bonus!). In terms of resistance-style training this will also equate to more muscle growth and strength building.
“In layman’s terms, your metabolism is dictated by the amount of energy your body requires to function on a day-to-day basis, otherwise known as your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). This is why we eat food! The total daily energy needs of every person is going to be different. Every body is different and every lifestyle is different. More movement requires more energy. Movement is the one thing that we have control over, as opposed to the involuntary needs our body constantly has for life support.” – Essential Understandings of Muscle Building and its Relation to Health and Fitness.
Burning calories or muscle / strength building may or may not be a goal for you personally, but for those living modern, sedentary lifestyles it is necessary. We’re simply doing much less physical activity compared to humans even just two generations back. We’re getting injured, living in pain, struggling to keep up with the kids, and dealing with preventative health issues like diabetes and heart disease more than ever.
If you find that your gym routines are relying on seated machine exercises, your results will pale in comparison to a fitness program centered around robust and challenging movements patterns.
Machine-based exercise is the easiest place to start your fitness journey. Start where you can, but don’t stay there. Anything is better than nothing, do something. But not everything is worth your time. Don’t stop to pick up pennies when you can learn to dig up diamonds.
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