WHY FUNCTIONAL TRAINING?

As you look around the gyms of today, you will notice lots of equipment you wouldn’t have seen in the typical gyms of the 80’s and 90’s. Rows upon rows of one dimensional machines, attracting queues of muscle-clad and sweaty body builders have been replaced by cords, boards, balls, and seemingly simple body weight resistance items in an apparent shift towards a new era of training. 

But why? How can these simple items be more effective at gaining strength than the traditional bench press or the squat? Well, the answer lies in what type of strength you’re looking for.  

Gym Fit verses Functionally Fit  

The bench press has been the iconic measurement of strength for as long as gyms have existed. The mark of a man lay in being able to bench press as close to your body weight as possible. And this strength was really useful if you ever found yourself trapped, on your back, under a heavy object such as….a tree, perhaps?  

It’s difficult to think of many situations where this type of strength would be useful in everyday life. Sure, you would be able to get that tree off of you, but there is a good chance you may strain a lower back muscle as you get up, or tear your tricep as you extend your arm forward, or even damage ligaments in your knee.  

And that’s where the problem comes in….our bodies don’t work in a one-dimensional way. Rather, our muscular, skeletal and joint systems work in harmony, supporting one another in an intricate fashion to assist our bodies to carry out even the most simple of tasks without injury. Even the act of walking involves the use and co-ordination of several muscles just to prevent us from falling down.

So how does Functional Training fit into the picture?

Functional training is not one dimensional. It doesn’t aim to achieve strength of any one particular muscle in isolation to those around it.  

Rather, functional training aims to mimic the type of activities we do in daily life, and develop all those muscles in unity so as to achieve overall, lasting muscular strength while minimising the risk of injury. Therefore, this type of training relies on the development of the large muscle groups as well as the smaller, stabilizing muscle groups. Going one step further, functional training also develops hand/eye co-ordination, improved joint stability and balance, without which everyday activities would be a lot more difficult.

In 2009 Keith Spennewyn (President of the USA National Institute of Health Science), conducted research which compared functional training to fixed variable training techniques. This was the first research of its type and the results showed that functional training displayed very substantial gains and benefits over traditional, fixed training equipment. People using functional equipment had a 58% greater increase in strength compared to those using fixed-form machines. In addition, their improvements in balance were 196% higher and they reported an overall decrease in joint pain by 30%.

With all forms of exercise, there is always an element of risk. However, due to the nature of functional training, there is a greatly decreased risk of injury involved but rather in increased ability to perform normal daily functions such as carrying grocery bags, without injury.

At Pro-Fit, this type of training works in harmony with our philosophy of

None of the Pain, All of the Gain 

Because while muscular stiffness after exercise is okay, pain is never okay. Our trainers are committed to guiding you through these movements in a safe and holistically beneficial way so that you can achieve all of your exercise goals, without any of the injuries common in other gyms.

Whether your goal is to run a marathon, or to be able to play with your grandkids in the garden, our goal at Pro-Fit is to get you there. Because life is for living.

Holistically yours,
The Pro-Fit Team