Training to Move
Have you ever heard the term “Functional Training?” I have been told I am a very functional trainer. To me, functional means I have the ability to get myself out of bed, make my coffee and breakfast, shower, drive myself to the gym and do my job. That seems functional to me. In this instance though I think we are talking about two different forms of functional training. Not training to be a functional member of society, but training to go through the physical demands of everyday life. Sidebar thought - maybe the physical functional training can help with being a functional human every day….
What are a few movements you do everyday?
Spring is coming, so my mind jumps to gardening, boating, wake surfing, hiking, avoiding bikers on the bike path while you are just trying to walk. (And no, I have not pushed over any bikers because they got too close to me.)
We train every day to live our lives. Nothing is more annoying than trying to bend down to grab some weeds you thought you killed and you heard something “pop” or you agitated a pre-existing injury that did not feel “that bad'' that day. OOOOhh, another example, trying to play with your kids when you are hurt. I have no idea what movements are associated with play time, but I can imagine you will find yourself in an awkward and compromised position.
Functional training is designed to create exercises and motions that may or may not target those exact strange motions. I LOVE finding exercises that fit into the template of horizontal and vertical, with both lower body and upper body motions. HOWEVER, we can move diagonally, and we can move in the most awkward ways and it is still somehow called an exercise. I know a few people have thought my exercises are made up, and designed to just make them look goofy. Well, yes. I need to entertain myself somehow….Truthfully, we are training for ALL, or almost all the awkward motions you will find yourself in.
Now for the point: injury prevention comes in all facets of exercise design. Functional training is a good way to train in all planes of motion, and give the body something that it craves; movement. Because Movement Matters, (YAYYY JES HILL) we should try to train in awkward ways, as long as there is a point to it.
To sum it up, “Training to Move” is a funny pun for something that happened in my life. Physically moving from one place to another, yes. If you have ever had the thought while moving, “this is going to hurt tomorrow.” Moving is one of THE MOST awkward body positioning things I can ever think of. Right next to shoveling from a random snowstorm no one knew we were getting. I found myself surrounded by some awesome friends putting themselves in awkward, compromised positions. All parties involved are in the health and fitness world in some aspect. But…NO ONE GOT HURT. Not even me. Although, I was sore. Functional training helps, and it kept us all out of the pain cave whether we are moving houses or not.
If you are interested in starting training for functional movement or other fitness goal, please reach out to our team here at SomaVT for a free consultation.
