Haddonfield Personal Trainer Jim Bompensa outlines the importance of functional training.

Haddonfield Personal Trainer Jim Bompensa outlines the importance of functional training.

Functional Training: Practice for the Game of Life.
By: Jim Bompensa

I value my time and I am sure you feel the same way. If you are going to take the time out of your busy schedule to exercise, I am certain you want to get the most out of it. If your purpose for exercising is to increase your physical abilities, useable strength, and endurance, then your workout routine must center on functional exercises. Functional exercises are those movements that translate into real world purpose.

Exercise is specific. If you want to be more efficient walking up the stairs or increase your ability to lift your grand children, then you need to perform exercises that replicate the functionality of those activities. You must perform functional exercises. Think about it. If an individual desires to be a world class swimmer, they may perform traditional exercises to increase the strength of individual muscles, but they also must practice in the pool. While it is true that performing traditional exercises may help strengthen some of the muscles involved your functional movements, the most efficient way to improve your functional capabilities is through activity specific functional exercise. Think of it as practice for the real world.

Some examples of functional exercises that can help in the real world are.

1) Step Ups
Real world use: Stair climbing.
-Begin with both feet flat on the floor with an elevated surface immediately in front of you. Be sure this surface is sturdy enough to support your weight.
-Place your left foot on elevated surface.
-While maintaining an upright posture, push from the left foot and lift your entire body up onto the elevated surface.
-Both feet are now on the elevated surface and upright posture is maintained.
-Return the right foot to the ground and repeat up to 15 times.
-Repeat on the opposite foot.
-Intensity may be increased by adding weighted objects to your hands.

2) Squat with forward raise
Real world use: Lifting objects.
-While holding a weighted object in each hand, begin with arms extended directly in front of the thighs with the palms toward each other. Your feet should be just a little wider than shoulder width.
-Arms should not be touching the body.
-The body should be lowered to a position where the thighs are parallel to the ground.
-Arms are straight while lowering the body and should fall between the knees.
-With both feet firmly planted on the floor, lift the body back to the starting position.
-While keeping both arms straight, they should be lifted to shoulder height in front of the body as the body is lifted up to the starting position.
-In contrast to the original starting position, at this point the arms should be in a position parallel to the ground with the hands at shoulder height.
-Return to position where thighs are parallel with the ground and the arms are straight and hanging between the knees and repeat the motion up to 15 times.
-The intensity of this exercise may be increased by increasing the weight in the hands.

Yours in health,

Jim Bompensa