Today the buzz word in the gym is functional training. It has many meanings to many practitioners in the health and fitness industry. My understanding and implementation of functional training has come from a variety of sources including my own training and teaching in martial arts and numerous sports, combined with studying many of the leading experts in the field including Gary Gray (known as the father of function), Paul Chek (who is also known as the man who brought those big Swiss/stability balls to our gyms) and the National Academy of Sports Medicine to name but a few.

(more…)

American College of Sports Medicine estimates that about 80% of the population is sedentary or inactive. But are there really that many people who do absolutely nothing related to physical activity?

The true goal of fitness is to improve the health of individuals and the community. The fitness industry is just beginning to play a credible, integral role in health-care reform, including the way it serves the sedentary and/or aging population.

What is functional fitness?

(more…)

Moving on to the intermediate level of resistance and the exercises begin to get a little more challenging for your core, proprioception, balance and stability. This is intentional, not only does it fire up your nervous system but it also helps carry over the benefits into our daily lives.

Week 7: Resistance Intermediate (Strength & Stability)

It s time to get functional

We all have goals that we are aiming to achieve when we embark on an exercise programme, for most of us it is the losing weight and looking good that is most important. However, very little thought is usually taken over exactly how our exercises will transfer over into daily life. How many times have you

attended a gym or health club and been show how to use all the machines, then had a programme designed by a, so called, fitness professional that has you moving from one machine to the next. In our daily life, do we sit down and perform these unusual movements? No, we stand and bend and twist as we balance our way through daily life. Our exercise programmes must be based on function, not only because the movements are more natural but because they are far more successful at achieving your overall goals in the first place.

(more…)

A stability ball or exercise ball is one of those big oversized kick balls you see at many gyms. The stability ball comes in various diameters, some brands have a rubber strip surrounding the outside of the ball others are covered with little rubber massaging bumps meant to massage your body as you use the ball.

The stability ball can be used to introduce a new challenge into your exercise program when you know how to use it correctly. The various activities you can incorporate your stability ball into are: abdominal/core exercises, balance & stability training, stabilizing the spine, all types of stretching, weight training, and more! You can even use it as an office chair if you want

(I do!).

(more…)

“Functional strength”: There are those words again. They rank right up there with “quality muscle” when it comes to people in the fitness industry uttering meaningless jargon that sounds profound on the surface. Of what part of my weight lifting-built strength isn’t functional? At the risk of sounding like a macho jerk; if I wanted to, I could probably slam my fist through the wall that’s behind my computer monitor. That’s pretty functional.

I’ve again come across a fitness article in which the author touts his fifteen minute bodyweight workout as being somehow superior to the results obtainable with weight workouts. He claims it will provide more “usable” or “functional” fitness. The last time I checked, all levels of

fitness were functional and able to be used as long as the person in question has a fully functioning body. Lest you be lured away from the best body-improving endeavor you can engage (resistance training), take the morning calisthenics advice with a grain of salt.

(more…)