What is functional movement?
You have probably heard this phrase before but what’s so special about this type of exercise?
There are some basic movements that we humans encounter in some way throughout any given day: squatting, pushing, pulling, lunging, and carrying objects just to name a few.
Functional exercise essentially trains your body to be able to efficiently perform these movements. Functional exercise encompasses multiple joints vs solely one joint at a time. This allows your muscles to learn how to coordinate together to create healthy movement. By working on how your body executes these movement patterns, you can take stress off of a certain area that perhaps has been nagging you so that you can feel better throughout your day.
Overtime, the goal of your trainer or PT is to get this movement “clean and efficient” so that force is being distributed throughout the body vs to one focal point. This can help lower your risk to injury and make your body ready for the movements you encounter each and every day. We can isolate muscles so they get stronger but with functional exercise, you can then teach your body HOW to use that newly gained strength, mobility, and endurance in your everyday movements. Functional exercise allows your body to put all the pieces together and learn how to perform optimal movement so you can freely move through your days.