As mentioned above, these are compound movements. By training this way, you can build strength comprehensively, helping your body learn to function as a single unit. This approach means training for movement, not for aesthetics or volume. You're going to want to include large, compound movements in your programming.
Use squats, deadlifts, lunges, jump squats, sledges and electric cleans to build lower body strength and explosiveness. To work your upper body, use the bench press, the horizontal row, the upward flexion, the bent row, the upward push-up, the upward push-ups, the dips and the strict foot pressure. Functional strength training is ideal for toning and strengthening existing muscles. To build larger muscles, you can easily incorporate free weights, such as dumbbells, into your exercise routines.
This does not mean that the muscles are not worked during functional training, but simply that the body is comprehensively trained to function as a strong, mobile and flexible unit. Functional strength training focuses on a wider variety of functional muscles, rather than individual muscles or groups. That's because true fitness is functional and holistic, and involves strong muscles that are also flexible and agile. Research shows that functional training can improve performance, even in people who are already considered to be physically fit.
Therefore, bodybuilding training routines will include many more isolating exercises, such as bicep pushups and side bends, while functional conditioning will incorporate more compound movements, such as squats and burpees. The movement patterns of functional training increase the heart rate and cause the body to burn a lot of calories long after the workout is finished. Especially if you're chained to a desk all day at work, functional exercise could really improve your quality of life and allow you to be more mobile as you age. Functional strength training exercises use resistance and bodyweight exercises, rather than heavyweight exercises, to help you naturally build muscles that have functional use in real life.
Functional fitness can improve posture by working on muscles, slings, and the way muscles work together. This is because functional training develops physical fitness factors complementary to strength, such as agility and coordination, which help lay the foundations for power. It is a type of functional physical activity that anyone can use to avoid injuries during their daily routines or on the sports field. You can use dumbbells, kettlebells, bands, sandbags, medicine balls, body weight, or a combination of each in a functional workout.
Functional fitness isn't the bitter enemy of bodybuilding, and in fact, many compound bodybuilding lifts, such as squats and deadlifts, are suited to functional training regimens. There are 7 key functional movements, and it's important to focus on improving the capacity of these movements through functional fitness exercises.
