Core/Functional Training

If people are not active in sports or physical education (in other words doing something that challenges their stability and ability of muscles to react), they start to lose balance at the age of 15 or 16.

After the age of 70, nearly 85% of people die from complications due to breaking their hip.

If those aren’t reason enough to incorporate core and functional training into your exercise program, perhaps learning more will convince you.

What is Functional Training?

Functional training is defined as “activity that trains movement” and includes: balance training, stabilization training, core training, and dynamic movement training. The result of functional training is agility – improved reactionary forces where your body has the ability to compensate for changes in your center of gravity and can move quickly and efficiently. In other words, if you’re falling or suddenly caught off guard, your body is trained to react quickly, meaning you are less prone to injury. Exercises promoting core strength and stability improve or maintain posture and alignment as well as challenging balance and equilibrium.

Core training is different than just training your abdominals. Although the abdominals are an important part of your core musculature, true core training is amore integrated approach; it combines strength, balance, agility, and flexibility of the muscles that control the entire trunk and spine. Regular conditioning of the core muscles is essential to prevent injuries, correct posture, and making you more efficient with all that you do. Core training is about QUALITY of the movement, not quantity!

Why are Functional Exercises Important?

There are many reasons why functional exercises are important; here are some of the primary reasons:

They promote maintenance and improvement in Active Daily Living tasks
They promote spinal health and longevity
They mimic motor patterns that translate into daily tasks, recreational sports, and work activities.
Traditionally, when people exercise, they are working on “cosmetic fitness” – exercising to look good and working on surface muscles or those that we see. The problem with this is that it doesn’t help you in daily tasks. How often do you hear that someone hurt themselves reaching to the back seat of their car, turning quickly, or bending down quickly to pick up something? These are daily living tasks; therefore, it makes sense to train the muscles doing similar movements. You aren’t lying down most of the day doing crunches, yet your abdominal muscles are constantly working to stabilize your spine. So why not train them in a way that makes sense (i.e. standing, sitting, twisting)? That’s what core and functional training are about, and there are several methods you can use.
But I LIKE my “Traditional” Exercises; How Can I Make Them More Functional?

Making your regular exercise more functional and beneficial simply requires some basic problem-solving and creativity.

Any exercise that you would normally perform standing on a floor can easily be made functional. Try standing or kneeling on a piece of equipment that challenges your balance; you will force your core muscles to work at the same time and improve balance and stability. And when you recruit more muscles, you also get the added benefit of burning more calories and finishing your workout quicker!
Any exercise that you would normally perform on your hands and knees or on your hands and feet (i.e. push-up) can also become functional. Simply place one or more of your bases of support on something unstable and experience the challenge as you engage your core and stabilizing muscles. For example, place one or both of your hands or feet on one of the pieces of equipment described in this section while doing a push-up; it then becomes a core exercise as well as strengthening your upper body.
Perform two exercises at the same time. Combining actions requires stability, improves coordination, and allows you to more quickly complete your workout. For example, try doing an overhead shoulder press at the same time you do a squat; better yet, do it standing on a piece of balance equipment. Or try doing a standing leg extension while working your biceps or triceps.
Practice basic balance exercises. Try standing on one foot; then progress to closing your eyes at the same time or adding some dynamic movements. When you feel comfortable doing that, perform your “regular” exercises while standing on one leg (i.e. arm exercises, squats).
What if you don’t have any special equipment? The best thing you can do is learn what neutral alignment is and try to maintain it throughout the day with all that you do. Think of drawing your navel in towards your spine like you have a string running from your navel, up your spine, and out the crown of your head. When you do this, you should feel your deep abdominal muscles engage. Your ears should be in line with your shoulders. People often ask “what is the BEST abdominal or core exercise I can do?” It’s simple, learn how to get into neutral alignment; keep your navel drawn in, and maintain it – that is the BEST exercise there is!
If you try to maintain neutral alignment while sitting in your car, there’s a good chance you’ll have to raise your rear-view mirror. This can then be a physical cue for you; rather than adjusting your mirror, adjust your body! If you find that you slouch during the day, get yourself into neutral alignment and then tie a string around your torso, directly on your skin just over your navel; have it snug enough that you don’t really feel it when you’re in proper alignment. If you let your navel go or lose your neutral alignment, you will have that physical reminder when the string presses into your skin (for best results, use an “uncomfortable” material like curling ribbon or a rough-textured rope). No one will know you’re wearing the string but you, and you just might find your posture improving!