The
Future of Fitness by John Erickson N.A.S.M.
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The problem with exercise machine
technology is that all movements begin at the core. Sitting
inside a metal cage takes the place of your core: the padded
seat absorbs all the tension. People who spend most of their
time exercising while sitting in an isolation booth do not
enhance their balance mechanisms, core stability or functional
capacity.
Functional training
is working out in ways that mimic the normal movement patterns
of daily living. People who spend their time inside a one-dimensional
machine will be very good at leg pressing 500 pounds but
very bad at raking leaves. Functional training requires
no equipment, or simple pieces of equipment such as stability
balls, dumbbells, body bars, agility ladders, step boxes,
medicine balls, bands, etc. A full set of functional training
tools costs less than the price of one leg press machine.
Since most functional
training exercises use light weight or your own body weight,
they help bridge that false gap that exists between cardiovascular
and strength training exercises. Gyms usually write "cardiovascular"
on the wall by the treadmills and strength training is considered
the free-weight area. Few commercialized gyms have an open
space dedicated to functional training. Some functional
training exercises require as much as 6 feet or more of
open space per person and all the functional training equipment
is kept separately -for example, all the stability balls
and steppers are kept in the aerobics room.
Many functional
exercises are exhausting although you are using light weight
or your own body weight because functional training works
out movements instead of individual muscle groups. If you
sit down on the leg extension machine, both of your quadriceps
are small compared to the rest of your body. Leg extensions
also neglect the largest muscle in your body -the buttocks.
Grab a set of dumbbells and perform some lunges to get the
whole body involved.
Below
are 3 examples of how to make traditional exercises more
functional.
TRADITIONAL
(STABLE) |
FUNCTIONAL
(UNSTABLE) |
Seated
Shoulder Presses
|
One-leg
Y-shoulder presses
|
TRADITIONAL
(STABLE) |
|
Dumbbell
press
|
Stability
ball dumbbell press
|
TRADITIONAL
(STABLE) |
|
One-arm
dumbbell row
|
One-leg Dumbbell
Row |
| |
|
