Functional Training: What it is Benefits and Tips to Start at Home

The goal of functional training is to enhance the functional movements that are utilized in daily living, sports, and occupational tasks. It has several advantages; its main goals are to increase muscle strength, decrease the chance of injury, and enhance balance, coordination, flexibility, and stability.

What is functional training?

Functional training has its roots in readaptation and rehabilitation; it was first applied in the military and in sports to help soldiers regain their ability to function in their bodies after suffering injuries such as amputations or other severe traumas. This allowed the soldiers to resume their daily activities and earn compensation. Working on the movement rather than the muscle allows us to enhance our movement by utilizing the central nervous system, which influences more aspects of movement than just muscle volume or shape.

The development of this training is known as functional training, as opposed to transfer training. There is some ambiguity between the two terms; for instance, if I play handball and pick up a pulley and perform the same sporting gesture that I am learning to improve, that is what I call functional training. However, that would not be functional training; rather, it would be or attempt to be transfer training. In the end, functional training—regardless of movement type—will enhance function. Therefore, the goal of functional training is to restore, preserve, or enhance our body’s motor function.

Benefits of functional training

Functional training has numerous advantages when done consistently, carefully, and with the right form.

• Harmonious gain of muscle mass.
• Increased muscle strength.
• Improved aerobic capacity.
• Greater flexibility.
• Better posture and mobility.
• A rise in calories burned (and a corresponding drop in body fat).

How much and how to do functional training

It is important to define the forms of functional training before beginning, thus we must distinguish between general and analytical exercises. What is meant by this? Though we usually utilize more multi-joint or poly-articular motions, which are more global, rather than particularly stressing a muscle to increase its shape or volume, analytical exercises can be used to improve overall mobility. We can stimulate or reawaken a muscle that is showing signs of weakness so that it functions properly in that wider range of motion. 

Thus, factors such as workload, speed, volume of work, and complexity are important. What is meant by complexity? A basic exercise, like a press where I raise a weight above my head, becomes more complex when I add degrees of freedom, planes of movement, and axes of rotation. If I increase the complexity of a press by using my legs and lower body to lift the weight, for example, I am increasing its complexity. In other words, the load that is employed, the amount of weight I am moving, the pace at which I am moving it, the number of repetitions, the number of times I move it, and the complexity of the exercise.

After that, I analyze my movement needs, the movements I want to make better, and the things that aren’t working for me. From there, I can identify my deficiencies and strengths. We call this compensation. If I have a weak muscle and I am still doing the activity, it means that another muscle is taking the place of the first muscle’s function. Because this compensation causes imbalances in my body, we will address them.

Greater resistance to illness or dysfunction is correlated with better physical health; the stronger, healthier, more endurance, stronger core stability, and more resistant I am to potential illnesses and dysfunctions, the better suited I am for daily activities. For example, if I can lift 70 kg at a time while performing a load, I will be better prepared for any activity I may undertake.

What is superior? Functional training is the greatest choice if I want to create new motions, be more stable, stronger, healthier, and have better movement quality. What is my method? 

Functional training involves identifying weaknesses and strengthening them. First, weaknesses are identified, and then actions are taken to improve them, set goals, and map out a course of action. First, it is necessary to ascertain what is required, after which a work program must be created. Always work on building your strength because everything depends on it—including mobility and flexibility—because our bodies are made to withstand hardships. However, occasionally, we experience limitations on our range of motion or range of movement. It stems from a lack of strength; in order to move, one must first build up their range of motion and repetitions, as well as their work volume, resistance, and other physical skills.

Tips to start a training routine at home

I’m going to leave you five tips that will help you start training from home:

Resistance training:

Pay attention to the intensity while cycling, walking, or running, continually adjusting to your ability. To achieve this, use these two tips: The first is to add minutes, and the second is to add intensities. To give you an example, if I can’t walk for thirty minutes, I should first add minutes until I can. The intensity doesn’t matter. Next, I should add minutes weekly; that is, I should add two, three, or five minutes to my exercise until I can walk for thirty minutes a day. If you have thirty minutes left, you need to increase the intensity; you don’t need to keep adding minutes. In this case, my advice is to walk faster or find walks or paths with a steeper slope so that you feel more exhausted, find it difficult to speak, and start to perspire. At that point, you will know that you are truly working on your resistance to a great degree.

Break with a sedentary lifestyle: 

Seek methods to break free from these extended periods of inactivity. For instance, set an alarm for every 30 minutes and make an effort to wake up when it sounds. You can also opt to drink water, which will make you feel the need to go to the bathroom, which will require you to get up and move around.

Strength training: 

Even while it’s crucial to develop strength, skipping strength training will ultimately cause you to lose more muscle mass. Instead, it’s advised that you employ functional gestures. For instance, you might sit down and get up from a chair. You can repeat this exercise as many times as you like, but ten to fifteen repetitions is advised. For the upper extremities, a basic elbow flexion and extension exercise with one kilogram of rice weights serves as an example.

Rest between sessions: 

It only takes ten minutes to get the most out of this exercise.

Take care of your diet: 

If you don’t eat well, you won’t be taking care of your diet. Drink the recommended quantity of water, eat enough fruits and vegetables, cut back on processed sweets and saturated fats, and generally eat poorly.