Staying fit for real life

A lot of people equate good health with tiny waists and toned muscles. While this is indeed almost always the case, majority of those who exercise to stay in shape are not quite fit for real life events. You might have lifted in the gym 150 lbs for your low back yesterday without trouble but you wrench your back today when you suddenly lifted a running child up to the air. Hence looking fit does not necessarily mean you are Functionally Fit.

Moving With Purpose

While working out on gym weight machines can strengthen isolated muscles and make you look buff, it does little to help you perform normal everyday activities. To move through life more efficiently and with less risk of injury, no matter if you're picking up a toddler, lifting a suitcase into the overhead bin or balancing on a step-ladder, functional exercises that mimic normal movement patterns should be incorporated into every fitness regimen. People used to exercise only to improve muscular or cardiovascular strength, but never really asked themselves what their getting fit means and how they ought to pursue their lives. Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist with the San Diego-based American Council on Exercise says "We now see that by using an integrated approach to exercise and training muscles to work not in isolation but in concert as they do in life, we can make our jobs, recreation and normal, mundane chores easier and less stressful on our bodies."

Take It From Firefighters

Now when it comes to functional training, Deputy Fire Chief Jon Handley, manager of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department's Wellness Program has this to say "When there's an (emergency) event, you're moving fast and often lifting heavy equipment or people in and out of all kinds of situations. It demands that you're physically fit to do the job effectively," Handley strongly suggests that it's so important for people to train in such a way that not only makes them stronger, but also lets them do their jobs without hurting themselves.

Training For Life, Not Events

Functional fitness works multiple muscles on multiple planes, simulating how we use them in real life. Functional exercises do more than strengthen. They also improve coordination and balance, prevent strength imbalances and target the stabilizing muscles that we use many times a day. Hence, it is important to keep in mind that muscles help minimize stress on our skeletal system. If we keep those muscles strong in all ranges of motion, they can more easily stabilize joints, protect our bones and be all-around better shock absorbers. Injuries usually occur if you've worked a muscle from just one angle on a weight machine and you deviate from that angle, as it usually happens in real life. "Functional fitness is training for life, not events," Cedric Bryant says. "It's extremely rare that we ever use just one muscle for anything we do in life. Even something as simple as getting up off the sofa requires several muscles working together."

Combos Are In

Isolation exercises do allow us to focus on a particular muscle especially when it needs attention. However one must understand that concentration movements are hardly used in day-to-day life. To produce any functional movement the muscles all together have to work as a group. Performing several sets of biceps curls while seated at an exercise machine may eventually give you strong and nicely defined upper arms. But it's rare that the biceps muscles ever work alone in real life. A more functional movement would be to do biceps curls with free weights while standing on one leg or lunging forward on alternate legs. These exercises would not only work the arms but also the legs. At the same time, in either the lunge or one-legged position, the core (abdominal, butt and lower back muscles) would get a workout as it's forced to contract and tighten to help you keep your balance. Just remember to incorporate in your exercise routine movements needed to make daily activities like carrying your child, lifting a grocery bag or a suitcase, doing the laundry etc.

Mindful Effort

Working various muscles at the same time can be taxing on the body and the brain. Functional exercises need to be done with concentrated effort and can't just be mindless repetition. The movements are usually done at a slow, deliberate pace and with lighter than normal weights. Some speed and heavier weights may be added after your body adjusts to the movements. Proper form is a major concern in functional training since many of these exercises are performed freestyle, without the support of an exercise machine. When beginning a functional fitness program, you may seek guidance from a personal trainer. The functional approach borrows liberally from disciplines as varied as yoga, Pilates and physical therapy. The workouts can have participants exercising on oversized rubber balls (stability balls), racing up and down stairs, and balancing on one leg or wobbly boards all in pursuit of core strength, aerobic endurance, flexibility, coordination and balance... the components of any good exercise program.