Jumping out of bed and heading to the gym for a rigorous workout without warming up, cooling down, or getting injured is the life for twenty-somethings.
But most of us need to think through our physical activity more carefully. We need to mobilize, perform movements correctly, and target all major (and minor) muscle groups.
Exercising is no longer about how to continue to fit into our favorite pants. The goal now becomes keeping up with our kids, favorite sports, and regular day-to-day tasks.
Functional fitness has become a new, trendy word tossed around the fitness realm in the last couple of decades. But it is not the name of a new type of exercise. Instead, it is a fitness concept that focuses on overall health, mobility, and vitality.
In this article, you will learn what functional fitness is, what movements to perform, and what classes at the Paseo Club focus on functional training.
What does functional fitness mean?
Functional fitness (or functional training) refers to exercises that support and enable you to perform common movements in your everyday life. These activities include, but are not limited to, walking, running, lifting, carrying weighted objects, squatting, lunging, pushing, and pulling.
The purpose of functional training is to prevent injury, maintain fitness and agility, and complete everyday tasks safely and successfully well into your senior years.
What are 7 functional fitness movements, and how do they relate to real life?
Many types of functional movements translate into everyday activities. Here are our top seven.
1. Push-ups
Push-ups are a classic bodyweight movement. They can be done against a wall, on your knees, or in a full plank position on the floor. Push-ups work much of your upper body — triceps, deltoids, pecs, biceps, core, shoulder, and triceps.
Real-life application: Push-ups help you to pick up things, push a shopping cart or wheelbarrow, push kids on the swings, catch yourself if you fall, and climb.
2. Walking lunges
Walking lunges can be done across a room, or you can do front or back lunges in place. Perform this movement with just your body weight, or make it more challenging with dumbbells or a kettlebell. Lunges activate the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and core.
Real-life application: Lunges aid in walking, running, kneeling, standing up, sitting, stepping forward, climbing stairs, and stepping onto ladders. They are great for your knees and help to mitigate the chance of knee injuries.
3. Squats
Squats are one of the most essential movements everyone should master — and there are tons of variations. Try bodyweight air squats, weighted squats, banded squats, or jumping squats — to name a few. Squats work your glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, and core, including the erector spinae muscles.
Real-life application: Squats help you get up and down from chairs or sofas, make you a stronger runner or walker, and make you more capable of lifting heavy things (including wiggling toddlers). You can climb stairs better and play on the floor with your kids or grandkids. It also supports knee and joint mobility,
4. Jumping or stepping onto an elevated surface
Step-ups or box jumps are two great movements that hit your entire posterior chain — glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erector. The step-up is a low-impact version, while the box jump is its explosive counterpart. You can scale this movement at different heights depending on your ability and comfort. Add weights to the step-ups for an added challenge!
Real-life application: Steps ups and box jumps are great for walking, hiking, and running and will help you in most sports. They make climbing stairs, lifting objects, and even walking with balance more accessible.
5. Lateral bounds
Lateral bounds are a side-to-side plyometric jumping movement that requires agility and coordination. It affects many of the same muscles as a squat — quads, core, hamstrings, calves, and glutes. However, it also targets your propelling muscles, specifically your outer calves and thighs.
Real-life application: Lateral bounds boost your nimbleness — crucial for most sports and physical activities. This movement helps with posture, balance, and dexterity.
6. Pull-Ups
Many people are intimidated by the mighty pull-up, but this is a scaleable movement that everyone can do and benefit from. Few exercises require pulling, which is why this one is so important to integrate into your fitness routine. Some versions of pull-ups include jumping pull-ups, ring rows, banded assisted pull-ups, kipping pull-ups, and chin-ups with fingers facing you. Pull-ups strengthen lats, biceps, forearms, rhomboids, traps, and more.
Real-life application: Doing pull-ups helps you have more shoulder mobility for reaching overhead. There is increased upper body strength for getting out of chairs, bathtubs, and pools, and most people experience less back pain. Pull-ups boost your grip strength for grasping and pulling items and opening jars.
7. Plank
Planks are a classic movement for the core — transverse abs, rectus abs, and obliques, but they also target the shoulders, chest, lats, triceps, traps, biceps, rhomboids, and quads. You can plank using your hands, on your forearms, or balance on either side. Planks are a static movement and look unassuming at first. But as the clock ticks, you learn how challenging this simple exercise is.
Real-life application: Falling is one of the greatest risks to senior citizens. One of the best preventions is a strong core. Doing planks can also help with most sports, coordination, and minimizing back pain and injury.
What classes at the Paseo Club focus on functional fitness?
The Paseo Club wants you to live your best life well into your golden years. That means finding ways to be active and fit at every stage of life. Building strength or speed is just one component. Maintaining agility, coordination, and mobility are equally important to your longevity.
The Paseo Club offers a wide range of group classes and small group training programs focusing on functional training. Here is a list of classes to choose from.
Small Group Training
- Tribe HIIT Core
- Tribe Core Strength
- The Greatest Results
- Tribe Functional Fitness
- Women's Strength Training
Group Exercise Classes
- HIIT in 30
- Cardio Strength
- Strictly Strength
- Dynamic Strength
- Strength and Tone
- Core, Tone, and Strength
Becoming fit for life
How many of us have laughed at an older relative or friend as they groan to stand up, grunt to sit down, and mutter all day about all their aches and pains?
Aging used to be a joke until we got to our forties and realized we do not feel quite as spry as we once were. Stiff joints, predisposition to injuries, increased inflammation, and muscle loss are all normal biological signs of aging.
Moving through your day with ease and comfort becomes more important as you age. Although we cannot stop Father Time, we can choose exercises that help us stay mobile, agile, balanced, and strong.
Functional fitness is a successful model of movement that anyone at any age can learn, and the Paseo Club team is here to help. The classes listed are for people of all fitness levels and ages (Women’s Strength Training has an age minimum of 40 years young).
After a nice sweaty workout at the club, stay and relax for a while. You can get a treatment at the spa, grab a bite at the cafe, or visit with friends or family at the poolside.
Would you like to be a part of a health-minded community? Become a member of the Paseo Club. Joining takes just minutes and grants you instant access to all eight acres of the club — fitness, gym, Pilates, tennis, pickleball, and swimming are all here for your enjoyment. The Paseo Club is your home away from home. Visit today!
