MASTER CLASS: Functional training = independence

— Functionality is certainly one of the more underrated aspects of fitness training, but for some people, it’s at the top of their list of goals.

Who are these people? Those who know what it’s like to lose a basic ability needed in everyday life. For example, you only need to hurt your back once while lifting a child off the floor to appreciate being able to function without pain.

This week, I’ll present a case for infusing functional training into your workout routine and will introduce an exercise designed to do exactly that.

Exercising for improved bodily function is often only taken seriously by athletes or the elderly. Athletes train to perform specific parts of larger tasks better. Whether it’s swinging a baseball bat or passing a football, athletes design their programs to make them more capable at incremental elements in a skill.

Likewise, older adults use functional exercise as a means of maintaining their independence. Walking, opening cabinets and reaching overhead are just a few of the many daily abilities older adults must work to maintain. In many ways, exercise facilitates these activities.

These two examples just scratch the surface of functional training. Anyone can choose to train for functionality, regardless of age or occupation. The key is to analyze your movement patterns and then select exercises designed to help you perform those patterns more efficiently.

A new mother, for example, repeatedly bends to pick up her child throughout the day. This repetitive pattern can cause back and neck pain if her muscles are weak in one part of the larger movement pattern or if her posture’s sloppy. In this case, we would teach the new mother to safely pick up a medicine ball that weighs approximately the same as her baby.

She would perform this weightlifting with correct anatomical positioning in the gym, and that would train her muscles to carry over this technique to her daily life.

The key thing to remember is that anyone can benefit from functional training. Think about your day-to-day activities and really analyze which movements you do the most often. This will give you the foundation for building functional training into your existing fitness program.

This week’s exercise is designed for people who often stand up from the floor. Mechanics, gardeners and daycare workers are just a few people who could benefit from the Army Crawl.

1.

Lower the Smith Press bar to around three feet off the ground. Stand inside the Smith Press cage facing outward with your feet at shoulder-width apart. You should be only a few feet away from the bar.

2.

Squat straight down and place your hands on the floor.

3.

Crawl out of the cage on your hands, passing under the bar until you are extended into the “up” phase of a pushup. The bar should be right above your lower back at this point.

4.

Crawl backward, making sure you don’t touch the bar, until your feet are near your hands.

5.

Stand back up. This is one repetition.

6.

Do 12 repetitions, rest for a minute or two, and then do another 12.

The Army Crawl is a great way to exercise the legs and upper body with one simple movement that requires almost no equipment. If you don’t have access to a Smith Press machine, you can lay a broomstick over chairs or other supports that will hold it about a yard off the ground.

It’s a great way to introduce functional training into your routine without adding complicated movements you may not be familiar with.

Matt Parrott has a doctorate in education (sport studies), a master’s in kinesiology and is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine.

[email protected]

ActiveStyle, Pages 30 on 10/18/2010

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