FUNCTIONAL FITNESS Most of us hope to remain functionally fit as we age. We’d like to ensure that we can do what we need to do, what we like to do and what we dream of doing for as long as possible. But injuries, bad postural habits and a sedentary lifestyle often combine to gradually limit what we can accomplish, even simple activities like picking socks off the floor.
How can we fight these limitations? With functional training, which mirrors movement patterns of everyday life such as carrying, transferring masses from one point to another, pushing, pulling, and climbing up and down, among others. In strengthening movement patterns that use multiple muscle groups at the same time, functional fitness teaches your body to work in alignment – meaning, in harmony. It can help balance out weaknesses, prevent injury and enhance coordination, eventually leading to improved mobility and stability and reversing the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.