Functional Training is the Future

Hey everyone, at Integra Physical Therapy and Personal Training we work exclusively with functional training and I have had a couple of question about what types of exercises and how often to do them. As a fitness professional I get to look at research and see what it says about certain types of training. I have also been a part of sports and have done a number of types of training ranging from straight athletic strength development to bodybuilding to CrossFit. There are pros and cons of each of them but all in all functional training is our favorite for all of our members and trainers at the gym.

Functional training is broken down into multi joint movements that mimic everyday life. Step ups that use the same muscles as walking up stairs, for example. Look, if you’re going to the gym and doing a bicep day and hoping on the treadmill for 30 minutes and its working for you, great. I’m just trying to explain some benefits of functional training.

1.       Functional training is multi joint movements. That means if we have a leg exercise it will involve the hips and the knee, igniting multiple muscles, hamstrings, quadriceps and glutes. Our upper body movements are based on pushes and pulls bending at the elbow and shoulder. Getting as many big muscles working at one time as possible is the key, I’ll explain that later.

2.       Functional training burns more calories than isolation training. By using multiple muscles and joints in a movement you use more energy and burn more calories. The reason we weight train is to control our weight and body fat. By being more efficient in the gym, more can be accomplished in the same amount of time.

3.       Functional training includes supersets and circuits. Efficiency in the gym is also important. I can pair multiple exercises together back to back (superset) or multiple in a row (circuit) to accomplish a total body workout while taking less rest because I am not working the same muscle over and over again. 

Functional training is what we do because it is what we believe in. We want to make our clients well rounded so they can leave and enjoy an active lifestyle and not have a problem doing anything. Many people we see 2-3 times a week for an hour or less so when they get in we want maximum work being done. The more calories burned the better we can control weight and our body fat. Come see us at Integra in Fox Point to get a session so we can show you what we mean!

Talk to everyone soon,

Jason