Are you familiar with the term ‘functional fitness’? It’s only within the past few years that I became acquainted with this kind of training. Perhaps you’re more advanced than I, but despite being quite an intuitive concept, I don’t think functional fitness is discussed often enough.

For this reason, I wanted to take the time to discuss functional fitness today: what it is, examples of exercises you can try, how you could implement it into your workout routine, and why you should care about it in the first place.

What is functional fitness?

Functional fitness involves doing exercises which mimic activities from daily life, in order to build strength and mobility in these areas. They’re meant to help with preserving necessary physical function and movements which help us maintain our independence and a good quality of life. They are also useful for avoiding injury and improving your balance and posture.

At this point, you might be wondering whether functional fitness is for you. The short answer is, yes, it is. It’s for anybody and everybody. Whether you’re an athlete looking to be more well-rounded and abled in your sport, or whether you’re an elderly person seeking to preserve your independence and mobility, functional fitness exercises are for you (Liu et al., 2014; Xiao et al., 2021). This is because the aim of functional fitness is to support other aspects of your life – other movements you perform. So ideally, they will only help you get better at movements that are already part of your life.

As I stated above, this type of training is not only about building strength, but also preserving or increasing mobility in the right areas. It often involves compound exercises, meaning exercises that target multiple muscles at once, as our daily movements typically require multiple muscles to work together in synergy.

How does this differ from other forms of training?

Perhaps this question has crossed your mind. If you’re lifting heavy weights at the gym, why would you need functional fitness? You’re already strong and mobile as is. The problem with weightlifting in the gym is that we normally lift in ‘ideal’ positions, which we’re unlikely to use in our daily lives. I challenge you to think of a few situations in which the deadlift or bench press positions would be useful. I’m certainly struggling to.

These exercises are great at building strength, and that’s useful, but it might be more useful to practice performing movements under resistance which will be useful in daily life.

Traditional weightlifting often isolates muscles, but functional fitness trains your body to work as a whole, preparing you for the compound movements required in real-life activities.

Additionally, if you’re able to lift heavy weights but struggle to climb a flight of stairs or walk for 10 minutes, you might want to consider functional fitness to improve your aerobic fitness in a manner that will be useful to you in your daily life.

The strength of functional fitness training is that it capitalises on the principle of specificity in training (Liu et al., 2014). In essence this principle states that our bodies will adapt to the specific demands placed on them, e.g. if I lift heavier weights, my body will adapt to be stronger and lift heavier, whereas if I begin running, my body’s aerobic fitness will increase.

When we train to perform activities of daily living, our bodies will adapt to perform these tasks easily, particularly if during training, we make tasks of daily living more challenging. An example would be doing a sit-to-stand exercise while holding a medicine ball. This will add weight to the exercise, making it more difficult, but it also means that when you come to stand up from a chair during your day, you’ll likely find this easier to do.

What functional movements and exercises are useful for daily functioning?

The following are only a few examples. There are plenty more useful exercises to choose from and it can actually be quite enjoyable to identify which exercises are most beneficial for you.

Take goblet squats for instance. There are many situations in which we might be required to bend from our knees and hips and potentially lift a heavy object. They’re also great for improving ankle mobility and they certainly work multiple muscle groups in the legs. They can be useful for helping preserve the ability to stand up from a chair, lift heavy shopping bags off the floor and get out of bed.

Another exercise that’s great for functional fitness is the farmer’s carry, where you hold weight down by your sides in both hands and walk. This mimics walking with heavy bags of groceries, helping to preserve independence as we age.

The box step-up or using the StairMaster are a couple of exercises which can help with improving your ability to climb flights of stairs. They help maintain knee and hip mobility, enable us to produce force in our legs in the step-up position, and also help with preventing us from getting out of breath as we climb the stairs.

Some functional fitness exercises are intended to aid with coordination. This next exercise may not be for everyone, but the Turkish get-up is certainly one that enhances strength, stability, balance and particularly coordination. It’s a full-body motion, consisting of a series of steps that result in you going from lying down to standing up while holding a weight. In this case, a video will explain what I am unable to with words on a page, so here’s a videographic explanation for you.

Cable rotations or twists are another good functional exercise. They help to preserve rotation in the spine, improve rotational power and improve core strength and stability. Imagine you’re lifting heavy objects into and out of the trunk of your car. You’ll likely rotate as you lift, so doing this exercise can help with similar tasks, during which we are prone to throwing our back out.

The final exercise I’d like to highlight is the plank. I wouldn’t say the plank position is one you might find yourself in often, however, it’s super great for your core strength and helping avoid back injury as well as improve your balance.

How can you integrate these exercises into your workout?

Step 1

Start with a warm-up, including some heart rate-raising exercise (such as walking and jogging), dynamic stretches (think lunges with trunk rotation) and muscle activation exercises (for example bodyweight squats).

Step 2

This is the main chunk of your workout. You can try 4-6 functional compound movements per session. This means you’ll do 3-4 sets of each exercise, targeting multiple muscle groups. If you’re smart about which exercises you pick, you could complete a full body workout this way.

Don’t forget to include a variety of exercises, using a range of tools and equipment. You can incorporate bodyweight exercises, kettlebells, resistance bands and even sandbags or balls.

If you’re a gym rat, try and avoid doing your whole workout on machines. These don’t really mimic natural daily activities in the same way free weight or bodyweight exercises could.

Step 3

Go on to some core stability exercises. Here’s when you can include your cable rotations and planks into the workout, as you can afford to fatigue them without this affecting the rest of the exercises you do in your workout.

Step 4

Finish off with a few minutes of conditioning. This is a great way to get your aerobic fitness up. If, for instance, you become easily out of breath walking to the shops or climbing a flight of stairs, you may want to try 10-15 minutes of aerobic exercise to improve in this area. Again, functional fitness is about building up the fitness you need to do daily tasks, and this certainly contributes to that aim.

Conclusion

Incorporating functional fitness into your routine is an investment in your long-term health and wellbeing. Whether you’re looking to enhance your athletic performance, improve your daily mobility, or simply preserve your independence as you age, functional fitness offers a wide range of benefits that can make everyday tasks easier and more efficient. By focusing on exercises that mimic real-life movements, you’ll build strength, improve your balance, and reduce the risk of injury – all while enhancing your quality of life. Remember, functional fitness isn’t just for one age group or fitness level – it’s for everyone. So, get moving, stay strong, and make your workouts work for you in a way that truly matters.

References

Liu, C., Shiroy, D. M., Jones, L. Y., & Clark, D. O. (2014). Systematic review of functional training on muscle strength, physical functioning, and activities of daily living in older adults. European Review of Aging and Physical Activity, 11(2), 95–106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11556-014-0144-1

Xiao, W., Soh, K. G., Wazir, M. R. W. N., Talib, O., Bai, X., Bu, T., Sun, H., Popovic, S., Masanovic, B., & Gardasevic, J. (2021). Effect of Functional Training on Physical Fitness Among Athletes: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Physiology, 12, 738878. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.738878