You may have become aware of increasing numbers of gyms adverting functional movement or functional training. The most well known of these is F45 or functional45 gyms which are popping up in almost every suburb in Melbourne.
So what is functional training ?
Functional training doesn’t just strengthen one group of muscles at a time like for example a bicep curl. Instead a functional moment will force your body to work several muscle groups at once. This forces your body to function as a unit.
A functional exercise should mimic a movement such as getting up out of a chair, as the aim is to train movements not muscles. These movements should mirror the way humans were meant to move and help us preform exercises of daily living.
These could be pushing, pulling, climbing lunging and squatting.
The aim of this type of training is to lower the chance of injury by strengthen the core stabilises and improve neuromuscular control.
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This post was written by Dr Janine Symington.
You can find out more about her here or book an appointment online here.
