Running daily errands is a necessary part of life, but for others, it might be challenging for their body. Everyday activities like carrying, lifting, or bending can lead to fatigue and discomfort. Worse, these everyday life activities can make you vulnerable to falls, back pain, and muscle tension.
Functional strength training is a way to help those who have problems performing everyday life activities while also reducing the risk of injury. This workout enhances your body's ability to manage various tasks. In particular, functional strength training works out the muscles responsible for lifting, bending, twisting, and carrying. If you're wondering how functional strength training stands out from traditional strength training, the YMCA of Central Kentucky is here today to help answer your questions!
Functional Strength Training vs. Traditional Strength Training
What are the differences between functional vs. traditional strength training? Though these two workout plans both improve physical fitness, each one has different objectives. For instance, traditional strength training aims to enhance your overall strength, using light weights to start, and gradually increasing to heavy weights as time goes on.
Functional training, however, has one central focus. It improves the body's ability to perform daily tasks. The workouts in this regimen focus on six specific movement patterns: push, pull, squat, lunge, bend, and core. These exercises hone critical skills like coordination, range of motion, and balance.
The Basics of Functional Strength Training
Functional strength training focuses on improving the movement patterns involved in your daily activities. These movement patterns include bending, pulling, lunging, pushing, squatting, and core.
When participating in functional strength training, you'll go through three levels. These include beginner, intermediate, and advanced stages. The beginner level teaches the basics of proper functional movement patterns and helps to assess your current fitness level.
After the beginner level, you advance to the intermediate stage. You begin perfecting the six core movement patterns mentioned above at this level. The advanced level pushes your body to the highest limits to manage various movements.
Benefits Associated With Functional Strength Training
Besides improving the ability to execute tasks, functional training has many benefits:
• Enhanced coordination - Functional strength training improves communication between muscles and the nervous system. Consistent workouts enable the brain to coordinate muscle contractions with efficiency.
• Increased calorie burn - Functional strength training accelerates your metabolic rate. The increased metabolic rate helps you burn more calories, improving your wellness.
• Improved posture - Functional strength training strengthens the muscles that support the spine. As a result, you get an upright posture, which can help reduce the risk of back pain.
• Improved mental well-being - When you engage in strength training, the body releases dopamine, the feel-good hormones. These hormones improve your mood and reduce your stress levels.
• Enhanced endurance - Functional training pushes your muscles, heart, and lungs to work at higher limits than before. This challenge boosts endurance, allowing you to engage in demanding tasks.
See How Our Strength Programs Can Benefit You!
While there are many gyms where you can do functional strength training, the Y's gym stands out. We have a well-equipped gym for regular workouts of functional strength training. Moreover, our locations also have additional benefits for adults, families and seniors, which include:
• Trained fitness professionals to personalize your workouts
• Land and water fitness lessons and classes
• Free Kids Corner while you work out
• No long-term contracts
If you're interested in functional strength training, traditional strength training, or just being healthy in general, come by to speak with us about membership for you and your family today!
