Functional Training. What Is It?by Vladimir Stojnic Few weeks ago, when I was doing a new client assessment test, on my questions: "What are your fitness goals?", my client answered: "I want to be able to easily function through my life." You might think, woow, that is a lame goal. If you, indeed, think that I must insure you that you are wrong. The whole purpose of working out, at least for a good number of people, is to be able to live longer and healthier. Therefore, we want to have a functional life. Functional training is based of the multi-planer exercises which replicate the daily life movements. The word function itself means "the purpose for which something is designed or exists; role." (dictionary.com) That being said, the functional training is designed to serve "the purpose" of life .This type of exercising is not any new invention . Many generations before us have done it. Many people deciding to replace the monotonous dead-weight lifting for routines that will keep them loving exercising. In order to maintain the desire for workouts, we must keep it fun and challenging. Single routine or 3-day routine you keep doing for quite while will not help you to reach your fitness goals in long run. Moreover, it will just make you hate it even more and eventually you will stop. People, once they step into the gym the only thought is how to lose weight. In most cases, that is the only reason why they are in the gym. We must respect that, at least they trying to positively change their life. Even if they know what to do, most of the movements occurring in one plane, sagittal plane- bicep curl, frontal plane- military shoulder press or transverse plane- chest press. The routines in functional training are designed in such a way that most often fitness tool is your own body weight. Some every-day movements, like picking a box of old clothes from the floor and putting it on the high shelf, jumping over a puddle that is on your way to work or walking up the stairs, are replaced with the movements modified and adjusted for the gym (or outdoor) space of your desire. Today, functional fitness training is getting back its old glory and fame. Many fitness facilities or independent trainers are incorporating this type of exercises. According to the American College of Sports Medicine's Health and Fitness Journal (May/June 2014), functional training is one of the leading trends worldwide and its taking eighth place in the overall list of fitness trends in the world for 2014. We at Teg Fitness are big believers of personalized routines for every desired goal since every human being is unique. Our staff is helping clients to achieve their desired fitness levels but if your goal is "to be able to easily function through my life," our choice will be functional training designed specificly for you goal and your body. References"ACSM | ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal." ACSM | ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 June 2014. < http://www.acsm.org/access-public- information/acsm-journals/acsm's-health-fitness-journal>."Dictionary.com - The world's favorite online English dictionary!." Dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 June 2014. < http://www.dictionary.com>.
