In search of a healthier life, functional training emerges as an interesting modality for those seeking physical exercise. Because it works on different muscles and body capacities during the same workout, functional training is a great option for those who like to optimize their time by performing more dynamic exercises.
Functional training is organized in circuits with a series of exercises. The trainer sets a time for each exercise and when this time is up, the student leaves for another exercise. Physical educator Micheli Adriana talks a little more about this practice:
Benefits
There are many skills worked in this type of training, such as strength, power and breathing. Here are some key benefits that functional training can bring:
- Improves posture: Micheli says the abdomen must be contracted, hip, shoulders and neck aligned for the movement to be well executed. Which creates a body awareness and consequently the student fits a better posture.
- Cardiorespiratory work: Functional training requires constant speed in exercise practice. This increases the heart rate and improves the resistance of the cardiorespiratory system.
- Aids in balance: "Most functional training exercises work on balance and motor coordination, we work a lot on our own body weight," says Micheli. As this training requires a full-bodied resourcefulness, the student must remain balanced for its execution.
- Tones the muscles: The work of strength and endurance that circuit exercises provide, potentiates the gain of lean mass, which helps in muscle definition.
- Weight Loss: According to Micheli, functional training provides a great calorie burn due to the time of the exercises and their intensity. This generates the increase in heart rate that causes the person to reach their fat burning zone.
- Increases flexibility: The exercise movements of this workout are performed at full amplitude as we work with the whole body, and this causes the muscle to stretch. Micheli also says that she always separates the final minutes of her class so that students do a good stretch of the entire body.
In addition to the physical benefits, many other areas of health can improve. Micheli comments that her students have often reported that after they began this training, they began to sleep better, feel less headache, have a higher self-esteem and a greater desire for healthier eating.
Care and professional help
One of the advantages of functional training, according to Micheli, is the professional accompaniment. Throughout the circuit, a teacher accompanies students not only to control the timing of the exercise, but also to assist them in performing and, if necessary, correct posture or movement.
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The fact that the same exercises are performed by all students in a functional class is a matter for the coach to be aware of. Depending on one's difficulties and physical condition, some more complex movements may cause some injury, especially those that require greater knee and hip stability.
Therefore, the student should always inform if there are any specific difficulties or injuries that already exist, so that the coach is alert and suitable for the exercise as needed. Thus, the coach Micheli guides that the activity is always accompanied by a professional. He or she will assist not only in injury prevention, but will also treat each student individually to their specifications.
Food: What to eat to practice functional training?
The results of functional training can be highly enhanced if there is a joint work between diet and physical exercise. As with other modalities, you need to maintain a balanced diet and consume plenty of water.
"Before training, it is important to eat light things, avoid heavy foods such as pasta and bread, or even overeating," says Micheli, who explains that this can slow down metabolism, leading to fatigue and this impairs student development during the train.
It is also not indicated that the student does not eat for a long time before practicing physical activity. This can cause dizziness, low blood pressure and will also cause it to lose lean mass. Therefore, accompanying a dietitian with a specific diet may be a good alternative.
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Functional Training X Bodybuilding
Both modalities are great ways for a healthier life through physical exercise. Everything is a matter of preference and goals.
Micheli mentions that the focus of bodybuilding is to work out strength and aims to increase lean mass. The functional has the focus on various body skills, such as flexibility, agility, endurance, power, etc.
That is, if your goal is to gain more lean mass than lose weight, an alternative is to combine functional training with bodybuilding. If your goal is just weight loss, then functional training may help you more because aerobic work is more intense.
Exercises
To better understand how a functional training circuit works, here are some exercises that Coach Micheli usually applies in her workouts. Imagine that each exercise should be performed for 1 minute, with 20 seconds of rest between them: this would be a circuit. During training, the circuits may be repeated as many times as the teacher deems necessary, depending on the time of the class. Come on:
1. Agility Ladder
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This exercise is a great example of how the functional works with the whole body, as it moves feet, legs and arms, training agility and motor coordination in a very complete aerobic.
2. Step: up and down
Works motor coordination, legs and the faster your execution, the more calories you burn.
3. Front shoulder lift
An exercise that trains many skills such as balance, posture, strength and endurance. Works the muscles of the quadriceps, buttocks and shoulders.
4. Slide board race
The slide board is smooth surface equipment for gliding. This supercomplete exercise works on agility, speed, endurance and power. The worked musculature is mainly legs and abdomen.
5. Free jump and platform jump
The jumps are exercises very performed in the functional training, because they perform a wide movement of the whole body, great for working the cardiac muscles, the endurance, the strength and the power. The platform squat jump mainly works the lower limbs.
6. High side skipping
This exercise requires a high elevation of the leg to cross the barriers, performing lateral movement. Great exercise to work on breathing, agility and speed with great fat burning potential.
7. Displacement + Jumping
A compound exercise to be performed as quickly as possible. It consists of 4 posterior displacements (static running backwards), 4 lateral displacements touching the cones and 4 jumping jacks to the starting point.
8. Medicine Ball Squats
Another weight squat variation that works the entire body. In this exercise we can see a work of calves, legs, abdomen, back and shoulders, in addition to work breathing, a little balance and power.
These exercises were suggested by trainer Micheli to demonstrate how functional training is aimed at a complete work, developing several skills and muscle groups in a single exercise. It is worth trying this modality of physical activity, it is super versatile and dynamic. But remember: the important thing is to move the way you like and leave the sedentary lifestyle for good.
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