We have had a look at running and weight training over the last two articles. Now I want to talk about Functional Fitness.
My own definition – “functional fitness is preparing the body for common movements seen in your everyday life at home, work or in sport.”
Functional fitness should prepare your body to be able to do far more than you would normally encounter on a normal day. If working on your garden or loading up the car for a weekend away is difficult for you, then you need to prepare your body better.
As humans we are designed to run, jump, push, pull, lunge, squat, lift, throw, bend, twist, etc. All of this is functional. Functional fitness looks to develop and combine these movements to create stronger more capable humans.
We have been a CrossFit gym for two years. We have recently de-affiliated. CrossFit is functional fitness. However, in the purest form of CrossFit comes some of the sport-specific movements such as handstand walking. As cool as this is to walk on your hands, the only place this will show up is in the sport of CrossFit.
One area that we have to master to be functionally fit is gymnastics. Not the kind of gymnastics you see on TV, gymnastics in the sense of moving your own body through space. Pull-ups, push-ups, etc. are all very functional movements that should take a high priority in training.
You are not functionally fit if you can deadlift double bodyweight but struggle to run 400m without being gassed or vice versa – run a 45min 10km but struggle to pick up 100lbs. The idea is not to be the absolute strongest you could be or have the best endurance – it’s to have a nice balance of all the elements of fitness:
- Cardiovascular Endurance
- Stamina
- Strength
- Power
- Agility
- Speed
- Flexibility
- Balance
- Coordination
- Accuracy
Having a good base in each of these is part of Getting Better At Life – there will be very little physical challenges that you can’t overcome.
Example of a Functional Fitness Workout
200m Run – good pace
10 Push-Ups
15 Wall Balls
20 Jump Lunges
Rest 90s
x6-10 sets
Here we have a mix of running, pushing, jumping, throwing, etc. This would be a tough conditioning workout. To get better at workouts like this you would spend time improving your strength with weight training, improving your endurance with running/biking, etc. and increasing your power with plyometrics or Olympic Weightlifting.
Two more examples:
1. Run 5km
2. Build to a heavy 5 Back Squat then 3×5 at 80%
Both of these done alone would help to improve your functional fitness. The problem comes when you specialize too much in one area – you then start to move away from being functionally fit.
There’s no right or wrong way of doing it but for overall health and fitness, you need to be functionally fit. Enjoy a better quality of life and use your body as it is intended.