Functional fitness describes a variety of exercises that support everyday life.
Our bodies are designed to work as a unit. As we go about our day, movements like bending, pushing, lifting, pulling, and twisting are common. Agility, strength, and balance are incredibly important to assist in everyday tasks as well as help avoid injuries.
Free Download: 20 Simple Ways To Make Your Lifestyle More ActiveThe 5 Aspects of Functional Fitness
If you’ve ever thrown your back out getting out of bed, or tripped over a curb while mindlessly walking, you understand how easily it is to be injured doing something basic. Functionally fit people are less likely to injure themselves doing simple tasks.
There are 5 aspects of functional fitness that decrease the likelihood of being injured:
- Strength
- Balance and coordination
- Power
- Range of motion
- Mobility
Equally emphasizing each component of health and fitness increases strength, stability, agility and stamina.
Children are Naturally Functionally Fit
As a child grows, they naturally develop a functionally fit lifestyle.
As they gain control over their muscles and balance, they exhibit better strength, and agility. Children’s mobility is often superior to adults in that they easily squat, sit, and stand in ways adults no longer can. Children tend to be more resilient to fatigue and recover faster after using their large muscle groups. Also playing helps children expand the quality and quantity of movements they make throughout the day.
Sitting Changes Everything
As we grow, our lives become more sedentary.
Usually beginning with school, we become more sedentary, often sitting for long periods of time. We begin moving our bodies less and less and only for short periods of time. Enter lifestyle changes like driving, sitting for work and lack of exercise and our bodies become less and less functional increasing the risk for injuries.
Working Out Doesn’t Guarantee Functional Fitness
Depending on the variety of exercise, it may not be beneficial for your everyday life.
Our bodies, including the joints, muscles, tendons, and various systems are designed to work together for optimal fitness and ability. When we focus on one aspect of our bodies, for example, gaining strength via weightlifting, we often ignore other factors such as agility or flexibility which are equally important for healthy everyday living.
Functional Fitness is Based on Daily Living
Functional fitness emphasizes how the body works together to accomplish routine tasks done every day while working, playing and doing real-life activities. It focus on building strength and agility in real-life positions that improve mobility and reduce injuries.
Adding Functional Fitness to Your Routine Makes Sense
Physical fitness may not be enough to keep us injury free.
You may be into running and have excellent cardiovascular strength but lack the core strength to prevent back pain. Or, you may be incredibly strong, but lack the agility to bend, stretch, and roll. Also, you may be flexible but have poor bone density. Adding functional fitness to your routine can help boost deficiencies and improve the way your body works in harmony for everyday living, keeping you injury free as you age.
Free Download: 20 Ways To Make Your Lifestyle More Active
Developing healthier lifestyle habits can be challenging, but you have to ease yourself into it and stick to it. People are often amazed at how small changes can reap huge results. To help you leverage new habits into a lifetime of good health and better fitness download my free report 20 Ways To Make Your Lifestyle More Active. Once you choose a healthy lifestyle, you’ll never have to worry about dieting again.
