By: Sarah Stewart
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Most gyms and training programs today have a variety of options.There is gym equipment to suit every need, classes to engage the senses, and trainers who are able to write out a training plan for someone just starting exercise. But what about the majority of people who are somewhat fit to those who have a higher level of fitness and want diversity within their routine? How can they deliver themselves the dynamic nature of functional training and also incorporate muscle sculpting and purely aerobic workouts? The following information will give you the options that come from functional and traditional training, the composition of each, and how to create a system that innervates the two within a week.

    First of all, let’s talk about what functional training and traditional training are. There is not a specific definition trainers have to describe functional training, but instead, they create their own based on the other perceptions of what functional training is within the scope of health and fitness. This is mine:  Functional training is basically movements that work muscles, motion that mimics life or a specific goal, exercises that produce balance within the body.  Most functional training utilizes complex body weight movements. Therefore, if an individual is not strong enough to do a pushup, they would push a smaller percentage of their body. Traditional training means to produce, stabilize, and reduce force outside just body weight, isolating one muscle group at a time. Most traditional programs need dumbbells, weight sets, and machines to isolate every muscle. Typically, an individual will need a home gym or facility to readily have the equipment needed for all the various movements.

     Most people who desire to be fit want nothing more than to feel revived after a workout, be able to exert the energy for taking care of their families, and have a healthy sustaining life. The demographic that typically train with me are the people who want challenge, to lose fat, and to reduce the possibility of injury. Let’s talk about challenge first.  Humans have a fight for survival instinct in them. When they are challenged, but are able to conquer it, eventually they find themselves enjoying the endorphins that are produced by overcoming some type of challenge.  Functional training can challenge an individual because typically, in a functional environment, these people are faced with obstacles to push and pull their own body weight, execute speed, agility, and quickness, and deliver power, sometimes all within an anaerobic state!  On, the other hand, a challenge to a 60 year old woman who has minimal training experience may find herself challenged by jump roping or doing 5 pushups.  Regardless of the age or experience, most people find satisfaction when they know how to move their bodies within a challenging environment. Traditional training definitely offers challenge, but in a specific environment versus a program that can be implemented outdoors or in an office.

     Most Americans today desire another thing, to lose fat! The obesity rates have started to affect our children and most adults are sedentary behind desks all day long talking on their cell phones and having meetings online.  So, walking has become a thing of the past and exercise sometimes is not appetizing after work, therefore most people who carry a job and a family has to find the time to exercise. When people understand that they can have one piece of tubing and do 5 exercises for 20 minutes at their house, interpretation of exercise starts to change. These individuals will be doing exercise that is functional to their lifestyle. For example, if a woman has two kids, picks them up all day long, bends over to feed them, bathe them, etc,  there will be a distorted relationship of balance and strength. Therefore, by simply doing exercises that correct that balance at home, she will find less ache and pain, more stamina (because her body is functioning more efficiently), and better posture. For those who feel they must delegate two muscle groups per day, four days a week to get results, most will not do it if they juggle family and health, some just might find it boring.  If humans know they can do anything to create strength and power at home, plus go to a gym to have more option, they will engage in a functional program. Yes, a traditional program builds muscle, therefore enhancing the lean tissue, which burns fat, but when it comes to space and money, there are many more options with functional training.

     Lastly, injury is a common ground we all stand on. Though a traditional program can reduce injury by balancing specific muscles, a personal will need an environment in which they are constantly reducing and producing strength with their core and every other movement group. That is, being able to hop off a box, run laterally through a speed ladder, and execute pushups off of a stability ball. Not only that, there needs to be an understanding that not all programs that specifically reduce injury need external resistance, in fact most don’t.  Try this exercise: Stand up with your back against the wall and while keeping the back of your hands and shoulder blades up against the wall, you depress and elevate your shoulder blades (moving them up and down the wall) without taking your hands off the wall and keeping all other body parts still (stable). Most of my newer clients have a very difficult time engaging in this one exercise, even though they have been going to a gym for ten years. 

    
     All in all, a comprehensive program that allows for the diversity within a functional program and the isolation of a traditional one is optimal. Most people who are crunched for time and money will find that, with a complete understanding of their goals and options, could develop a hybrid system, in which they worked not only movement patterns, but also muscle groups. The goals you desire to achieve, the excitement level each brings you, and the results that come of the type of training you do will determine how you train.

• Knowledgeable staff who display a physiological understanding of the movements they coach
• An environment that teaches technique and cues on the execution of the  movement
• Consistency and progression with each week