Everything You Need To Know About Adding Functional Training To Your Workout Routine

Written by Sanjana PalecandaSep 20, 2018
Everything you need to know about adding functional training to your workout routine

The fitness industry seems to have grown exponentially over the past decade. As more and more people are becoming health and fitness conscious, the demand for new and innovative workout techniques is also increasing drastically. Gone are the days when just a basic weight training or cardio session was enough to satiate your fitness goals. Today, it’s all about the extra grind. And this additional need is what gave birth to functional training.

Functional training originated from rehabilitation techniques, primarily used by physiotherapists to treat muscle injuries. It mostly involves activities targeted at the core muscles (abdominal and lower back). Fitness experts then took it upon themselves to hone the hidden benefits of this revolutionary technique and turned it into what is today one of the most sought after high-intensity workouts out there. If you’re still contemplating whether or not to get in on this new favourite fad of the fitness industry, here are a few benefits of functional training to motivate you...

 

1. Improves body mobility, stability and flexibility

add functional training to your workout routine

The human body is designed to move about and not to be glued to a chair in front of a computer screen all day. Unfortunately, our lifestyles these days don’t leave us with much of a choice. However, functional training focuses on training your muscles and movement patterns thereby improving your body’s mobility, stability and eventually, its flexibility.

2. Burns body fat

Functional training is one of the best workouts out there for burning body fat. It incorporates a perfect mix of full body strength, endurance and cardio routines that’ll help boost your metabolism and maybe even help you get those chiseled abs if you’re diligent enough.

 

3. Improves your posture

add functional training to your workout routine

Functional training can help in correcting bad posture that mainly occurs due to low body mobility and muscular imbalances. It also helps to improve overall body coordination.

4. Tones your muscles

Unlike heavy lifting, functional training doesn’t make you bulk up. Instead it helps your body get rid off unwanted excess fat and replaces it with lean muscle mass, thereby leaving you with a well toned bod. At the same time, it also improves overall body strength.

 

5. Improves core strength

add functional training to your workout routine

In functional training, almost every exercise engages your core, thereby improving overall core strength. It includes numerous combinations of strength, cardio and ab workouts that’ll help you get rid of that dreaded paunch and other problem areas and well on your way to getting perfectly toned abs

6. Aids recovery from injuries and stress

Functional training improves the overall strength and endurance of your muscles and thereby conditions your body to recover from shock and injuries much faster than otherwise. Apart from physical injuries, functional training is also a great way to relieve you of mental stress. In layman’s words, this is one of the healthiest ways of blowing off steam!

add functional training to your workout routine

Despite its numerous benefits, functional training can also be quite strenuous for your body, so don’t get too ambitious too soon. Instead, take it slow and steady. This workout is hardcore so the results are bound to show sooner or later. Although you don’t necessarily need to go to a gym for functional training, we recommend starting off under the supervision of a professional trainer so that you get your form right. Once you get the hang of things, you can go ahead and fly solo!

Image Credits: Allaerobics.com

Sanjana Palecanda

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Author at BeBeautiful.

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