‘Functional fitness’, ‘true functional fitness’ and of course ‘functionality training’ are the exercise community’s biggest buzzwords right now. Every PT focuses on it, every crossfit gym claims it and every parkour coach offers it.
What does it mean and why it is important?
What does it mean?
Being ‘Functional’ is the ability to do a movement
safely, efficiently and with a very low risk of injury. It allows us to
function in our lives and adapt ourselves to any task asked of us. It makes us
a ‘jack of all trades’. And also enables us to pick up new movements/skills
quickly. It simply keeps us fit for life.
Many form of exercise offer some functional movement
training.
- Endurance- Is the ability to do a movement many times - like running
- Strength- is the ability to complete a movement increased pressure like lifting or holding a plank.
- Skill – the ability to perform a movement well and is practised by repetition – like football
- Flexibility- the ability to perform movement through a very full (and often extreme) range of motion in e.g. gymnasts.
But none of these on their own can be classed as
functional. A functional movement training program would have to improve our functional potential by that I mean our
ability to learn or perform as wide a range of movements as possible. It would
increase our overall efficiency of dynamic
- rather than specific or held - movement.
This sort of training
must obviously be broad and encompass strength, mobility, coordination, agility
and power. It would also be highly specific because it would also have to highlighting
the weakness of each person and bring balance to that individual.
A functional
athlete is therefore, almost by definition, in direct contrast to a specialised
sports-person or athlete, who is training in a specific movement or subset of
movements in an attempt to become the best at that activity. Some obvious examples of this
would be rowers, swimmers or cyclists. These athletes, while hugely talented and at the
peak of their physical fitness are not functional by this definition.
The Goal is health
We spend a whole lot of our lives moving but only a small
portion of it taking part in physical exercise. Everything you do is movement.
Our functional athlete is therefore more likely to move through their day to
day lives at much lower risk of physical injury from poor posture and muscular
imbalances.
This also impacts on their health. A functional body should be a healthy body. Joints work best when in proper alignment and are
only likely to ‘wear out’ if exposed to unusual torsion or odd loading, and well-conditioned,
mobile muscles are less likely to tear or snap than their tight, knotted
alternatives.
Functional movement is natural. This of course brings me back to my old friend the barefoot or minimalist shoe which allows the feet to function dynamically and helps promote a natural gait using the musculature that is designed for movement. Dynamic balance is what it's all about.....
Functional movement is natural. This of course brings me back to my old friend the barefoot or minimalist shoe which allows the feet to function dynamically and helps promote a natural gait using the musculature that is designed for movement. Dynamic balance is what it's all about.....
No comments:
Post a Comment