Functional Training

The goal of functional training
Functional training literally means exercising your body so that your training mimics your daily movement patterns, but safely and with intensity, so you also lose weight and get toned.  The goal of functional training is not only to change how the body looks, but to improve how the body moves. Muscles will develop naturally and beautifully through progressive exercises as different movement patterns are worked and trained.

Stabilization
Functional training is not simply for the advanced elite athletes.  In fact, it is vitally important to the person of average or below average fitness.  Doing exercises which require the stabilization mechanisms of the body to produce joint stability will enhance your ability to move more naturally and safely.  Then, performing exercises outdoors or in slightly more unstable ground forces the body to recruit more muscles to stabilize itself and thus muscular coordination is enhanced.  As your coordination, balance and strength increase, your body will be able to exercise, play, or work without the constant fear of injury or debilitation of chronic pain.  

Core
Functional training is also extremely “core” oriented.  Why is this important?  The core of the body is the beginning of all movement.  The core is made up of more than just the abdominals.  It actually is the entire trunk of the body, from the neck down to the groin, including the sides of your body too.  Building solid core muscles will enhance and protect you from injury for virtually any kind of movement.  Almost every exercise in the Dynamics of Motion System requires you to activate and strengthen your core.  This doesn’t just mean great looking abs- it means protection for your lower back and the ability to move in life with a much lower risk of injury.

Balance and Coordination
Balance is essential for safe movement patterns and can decline with age, which significantly increases the risk of injury and lowers your ability to move and function naturally.  If an individual cannot balance well, their movements become awkward and unsafe.  Over time this can cause a person to slow down and move less, making the risk of injury go up dramatically with age.  By working with multi planar movement patterns that simulate real life, you build controlled strength.  This provides stability around the joints during movement.  By keeping joints stable while you maintain better posture and correct movement patters while exercising, you will be decreasing the risk of injury and helping to alleviate chronic pain.  And, of course, balancing during some exercises dramatically increases the caloric burn of a workout, helping your lose body fat much faster.