FUNCTIONAL WORKOUTS: (THE TRUTH!)

Summary

This video debunks common misconceptions about functional workouts, clarifying that true functional exercise is not about performing circus-like tricks but rather about preparing the body for daily life and a variety of sports. By focusing on General Physical Preparedness (GPP), it advocates for workouts that incorporate multi-joint movements across multiple planes, emphasizing the importance of mastering basic movement patterns like squats, lunges, and pushes. Highlighting advice from athletic development coaches, the video guides viewers towards creating a personalized functional exercise routine that enhances strength, mobility, and overall health, steering clear of gimmicky fitness trends and aiming for real-world applicability.

Takeaways

• 🏋️‍♂️ Functional workouts are about preparing for daily life and a variety of sports, not just for aesthetics or specific athletic activities.
• 🤹‍♂️ The term 'functional' varies based on individual needs; what's functional for a bodybuilder differs from what's functional for a grandma or a marathon runner.
• 🎯 The goal of functional training is General Physical Preparedness (GPP), which aims to enhance one's ability to perform daily tasks and engage in multiple sports.
• 🔍 Functional exercises should involve multiple body parts and multiple planes, focusing on foundational movements like squats, lunges, pushing, pulling, bending, and twisting.
• 🏃‍♀️ A functional exercise routine should include a warm-up, mobility work, strength training with compound movements, and cardio for overall fitness.
• 💪 Free weights are preferred in functional training for their balance and coordination benefits, as opposed to machine-based, isolated muscle exercises.
• 🤕 Avoiding overly complex and risky exercises without proper instruction or experience can prevent injuries and ensure the effectiveness of a functional workout.
• 👵 Personalized training is important, especially for those with past injuries or specific needs, starting with simpler exercises and gradually progressing to more complex movements.
• 🏅 Legendary coaches like Vern Gambetta and Mike Boyle emphasize training movements, not just muscles, for better overall strength, mobility, and stability.
• 🚜 Functional training aims to improve the quality of movement, providing the body with the freedom to select appropriate movement patterns for various tasks and environments.

Q & A

What is the common misconception about functional workouts?

The common misconception is that functional workouts involve complex and exaggerated movements, such as balancing on a Bosu ball while performing squats and juggling, which are often promoted by fitness gurus. However, these activities may not be functional for everyday life or general physical preparedness.

How is 'functionality' in workouts defined in the script?

'Functionality' in workouts is defined as the type of exercises that best prepare an individual for daily life activities and a wide variety of sports. It is about General Physical Preparedness (GPP), which means being prepared for whatever one is most likely to encounter in life and athletic activities.

What are the seven fundamental movement patterns in functional workouts?

The seven fundamental movement patterns in functional workouts are squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, bending, twisting, and gait (walking or running).

What does an integrated approach to training according to Vern Gambetta involve?

An integrated approach to training according to Vern Gambetta involves multiple body parts and multiple planes, focusing on mastering basic movement patterns to build a strong foundation for more advanced functional exercises.

Why are free weights preferred in functional exercise?

Free weights are preferred in functional exercise because they help train movements, not just muscles, and emphasize balance and coordination benefits. They allow for compound movements in various directions, leading to better overall strength, mobility, and stability.

How does functional training help with daily tasks and sports?

Functional training prepares individuals for daily tasks and sports by focusing on multi-joint movements and using free weights in multiple planes. This approach strengthens muscle groups in harmony, improving resilience, and reducing the risk of injury, making activities like lifting heavy objects or running more comfortable and efficient.

What is the recommended structure for a functional exercise routine?

A recommended functional exercise routine starts with a warm-up for 20 to 30 minutes, followed by strength training using compound movements and free weights. This is typically done in a circuit and may include some isolated work for weak areas. The routine ends with 10 to 15 minutes of cardio for heart and lung health, and should be performed 3 to 4 times a week.

How does functional training affect the risk of injury?

Functional training reduces the risk of injury by improving movement quality and increasing the range of motion. It trains the body to use proper technique when performing activities like lifting heavy objects, thus preventing overuse and potential strain of muscles.

What are some quotes from Mike Bole regarding functional training?

Mike Bole emphasizes that functional training is not about bodybuilding or Olympic lifting but about improving function to make daily tasks easier. He also stresses the importance of providing clients with as many degrees of freedom as possible to perform tasks in any given environment, which is the essence of functional training.

How can one customize their functional exercise routine?

To customize a functional exercise routine, one should first identify their personal goals and any weak spots in their body. They should consider whether they are after more strength or endurance and take into account any past injuries. Based on this information, they can tailor a routine that includes compound movements, free weights, and targeted exercises for specific areas needing attention.

What is the purpose of incorporating enjoyable activities at the end of a workout?

Incorporating enjoyable activities at the end of a workout, such as running, jumping, or playing a game, adds a fun element to the routine. This can help increase consistency and motivation in reaching long-term fitness goals.

Outlines

00:00

🏋️‍♂️ Debunking Myths about Functional Workouts

This paragraph discusses the common misconceptions about functional workouts and aims to provide a clear understanding of what they truly entail. It emphasizes that functional workouts are not about performing circus-like tricks but are focused on preparing individuals for daily life and a variety of sports. The concept of General Physical Preparedness (GPP) is introduced, highlighting the importance of training for a wide range of likely encounters in life and athletic activities. The paragraph critiques trendy exercises that are not applicable to real-life scenarios and instead promotes a training approach that integrates multiple body parts and planes of movement, focusing on foundational exercises like squats, lunges, and pushing/pulling in various directions. It underscores the significance of full range of motion and increased flexibility for overall functional fitness.

05:01

🏋️‍♀️ Building Functional Strength and Mobility

This paragraph delves into the practical application of functional exercises in daily life, using the example of lifting a heavy box to illustrate the benefits of proper training. It explains how focusing on functional movements can greatly improve one's ability to perform everyday tasks and reduce the risk of injury. The paragraph then transitions into guiding individuals on how to create a functional exercise routine tailored to their personal goals and physical conditions. It suggests a balanced routine that includes warm-up, mobility, strength training with compound movements and free weights, and cardiovascular exercises. The importance of addressing weak spots and incorporating enjoyable activities for long-term consistency is also highlighted. The paragraph concludes by reiterating the essence of functional training for building a strong, resilient body and promotes further resources for fitness improvement and injury recovery.

Keywords

💡Functional Workouts

Functional workouts refer to exercises that prepare individuals for daily life activities and a variety of sports, enhancing general physical preparedness (GPP). These workouts focus on training the body to perform basic movement patterns like squatting, lunging, and pushing in various directions, rather than isolating specific muscles. In the video, it is emphasized that functional workouts are not about performing circus-like tricks but about integrated, multi-joint movements that improve overall strength, mobility, and stability.

💡General Physical Preparedness (GPP)

GPP is a term used to describe the state of being prepared for a wide range of physical activities and challenges that one might encounter in daily life or sports. It involves developing the ability to perform various movements with proficiency and efficiency, ensuring that the individual has the physical capabilities to handle unexpected or demanding situations. In the context of the video, GPP is the goal of functional workouts, aiming to provide a well-rounded fitness approach that benefits everyday life and athletic performance.

💡Movement Patterns

Movement patterns are the fundamental and natural ways in which the human body moves, including actions like squatting, lunging, pushing, pulling, bending, twisting, and gait (walking or running). These patterns form the basis for functional workouts, as they are essential for performing daily tasks and participating in sports. The video emphasizes the importance of mastering these basic movement patterns to build a strong foundation for more advanced functional exercises.

💡Compound Movements

Compound movements are exercises that involve multiple muscle groups and joints, as opposed to isolation exercises that target a single muscle group. These types of movements mimic the way the body naturally moves and are a core component of functional workouts. They promote overall strength, coordination, and functional fitness by engaging several body parts at once, leading to improved balance and stability.

💡Free Weights

Free weights refer to exercise equipment that does not restrict movement to a single plane and allows for a full range of motion. This includes dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and resistance bands. In functional workouts, free weights are preferred over machine-based exercises because they require the body to maintain balance and control, enhancing coordination and functional strength.

💡Range of Motion (ROM)

Range of motion (ROM) refers to the extent of movement possible in a joint or group of joints, typically measured for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. In the context of functional workouts, performing exercises with a full range of motion is crucial for improving flexibility and mobility, allowing the body to move efficiently and safely through the natural spectrum of motion.

💡Isolated Exercises

Isolated exercises are those that target a single muscle or muscle group, often using machines or specific equipment. While these exercises can be useful for addressing weak points or specific training goals, the video suggests that they should not be the primary focus of a functional workout routine, which emphasizes compound and multi-joint movements.

💡Personal Goals

Personal goals refer to the specific objectives that an individual sets for themselves in their fitness journey. These goals can vary widely, from increasing strength to improving endurance, and should guide the design of a personalized workout routine. The video encourages viewers to identify their personal goals and any physical limitations or past injuries to tailor their functional workouts effectively.

💡Exercise Routine

An exercise routine is a structured plan of physical activities designed to achieve specific fitness goals. It typically includes a variety of exercises targeting different aspects of fitness, such as strength, endurance, flexibility, and mobility. In the context of the video, creating a functional exercise routine involves incorporating compound movements, free weights, and full range of motion exercises to prepare the body for daily life and sports.

💡Injury Recovery

Injury recovery refers to the process of regaining strength, mobility, and function after an injury. This process may involve physical therapy, rehabilitation exercises, and gradual return to activities as the individual heals. The video mentions the importance of functional training in injury recovery, as it can help individuals regain the ability to perform daily tasks and return to sports safely and effectively.

💡Physical Preparedness

Physical preparedness refers to the state of being ready and capable of performing physical tasks and activities. It involves having the necessary strength, endurance, flexibility, and mobility to carry out a wide range of movements and challenges. In the video, the main theme is that functional workouts enhance physical preparedness, enabling individuals to confidently and safely engage in daily life and sports.

Highlights

Functional workouts are about training for daily life and a variety of sports, also known as General Physical Preparedness (GPP).

Functional exercises should be defined based on individual needs, varying for a grandma, bodybuilder, gymnast, and marathon runner.

Many popular 'functional' exercises, such as balancing on a Bosu ball with multiple attachments, are actually not functional for most daily activities.

World-renowned athletic development coach Vern Gambetta defines functional exercise as an integrated approach involving multiple body parts and planes.

The foundation of functional exercises lies in mastering basic movement patterns like squats, lunges, pushing, pulling, bending, and twisting.

Functional exercise aims to prepare individuals for activities like picking things up, carrying loads, and various athletic movements, enhancing general physical preparedness.

Full range of motion (ROM) is crucial in functional exercises, improving not only strength but also flexibility and mobility.

Functional training focuses on multi-joint movements with free weights, as opposed to isolation exercises on machines.

Legendary Sports Performance coach Mike Boyle emphasizes training movements, not muscles, and the benefits of free weights for balance and coordination.

A functional exercise routine should include a warm-up, mobility and speed work, strength training with compound movements, and cardio.

Identifying personal goals and weak spots is crucial for customizing a functional exercise routine.

A well-rounded functional exercise routine can take 60 to 90 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week.

Incorporating enjoyable activities at the end of a workout can help maintain consistency and achieve long-term fitness goals.

Functional training makes individuals more resilient and less prone to injuries in daily activities and sports.

Mike Boyle's quote emphasizes that functional training is about improving function and quality of movement, not just making clients tired.

Gray Cook highlights the importance of increasing movement availability for the nervous system to select appropriate movement patterns.

Transcripts

when I ask you what are functional

workouts what comes to mind many Fitness

gurus will try to convince you that

functional workouts mean balancing on a

bosou ball while squatting a weight

overhead and juggling six kittens

simultaneously but the truth is that's

about as unfunctional as it gets unless

you're literally a circus clown in this

video we will uncover the truth about

functional workouts and give you some

actionable advice so you can train for

function without the circus tricks stay

tuned

[Music]

so what are functional workouts well the

question is functional for what

functional for my grandma is different

than functional for a bodybuilder

functional for a gymnast is different

than functional for a marathon runner

functional for you may be different than

functional for me for this video which

is made for the general population I'm

defining functional as the type of

workouts that best prepare you for daily

life and best prepare you for a wide

variety of sports in other words if you

do this functional exercise you'll be

well prepared for life and sport in

sports terminology we call this General

physical preparedness or gpp you are

generally prepared for whatever you're

most likely to encounter in life in

athletic activities right here you can

already see why most functional workouts

are in fact not functional after all

when was the last time you found

yourself balancing on a balance ball

with six stretchy bands attached to

every limb hoisting weight over your

head what's that you say what's that you

say you've never done that in real life

well then maybe you should never

practice that in the gym even if Tracy

the trendy YMCA fitness instructor tells

you it's part of the Gym's new

cuttingedge functional fitness program

so if functional exercise isn't circus

tricks on a bosu ball what is it

specifically world-renowned athletic

development coach Vern gambetta says

it's an integrated approach to training

that involves multiple body parts and

multiple planes in other words it's

about mastering basic movement patterns

like squats lunges pushing pulling in a

variety of directions these foundational

exercises form the Bedrock upon which

more advanced functional exercises are

built in simple terms most functional

exercises fall into one of the seven

movement patterns squatting lunging

pushing pulling bending twisting and

gate when you do functional exercise the

goal is to prepare you for activities

like picking things up carrying things

things pushing and pulling things

walking running sprinting and having the

general physical preparedness the gpp to

play a variety of sports and if you do

these movements with a full range of

motion ROM something we specialize in

here at got ROM you will also increase

your flexibility and Mobility so how did

these seven patterns translate into an

exercise routine in the gym can you pick

up any old bodybuilder routine and start

doing the leg curl and chest press

machine until the cows come home not so

fast bucko the heart of functional

exercise is not just those seven

patterns it's those seven multi-joint

movements done mostly with free weights

in multiple planes Mike Bole another

legendary Sports Performance coach

stresses the idea of training movements

not muscles and emphasizes the

importance of free weights for their

balance and coordination benefits if you

look at what we've done we've gotten

explosive power exercise done we've

gotten an upper body pulling exercise

done we've gotten a knee dominant

exercise done we've got the hip dominant

exercise done and we've got our upper

body press done this type of combination

of exercises can give us a tremendous

amount of bank for our buck provided

we've got a good proficient lifter in

other words instead of isolating

specific muscles on a machine functional

training focuses on compound movements

like pulling pressing and lifting in

various directions and including an

appropriate balance challenge this

approach trains muscle groups in harmony

leading to better overall strength

mobility and stability that carries over

to real life with that said there's

always exceptions some isolated strength

work on a machine can be found in almost

any functional exercise routine it just

shouldn't be the main dish for the

majority of people for example if my

grandma doesn't feel comfortable

deadlifting in the freee section of the

gym but is Happy trying the leg curl

machine to start I'm not going to force

her to do what I think is technically

better at first I am going to start

strengthening her muscles with some

isolated machine work and then gradually

warm her up to the idea a of free

weights and more complex movement

patterns similarly if you're an athlete

and by the way if you have a body you're

an athlete and you have a weak point in

the shoulder core or glutes we might

include some isolated work for those

areas in addition to your squats your

deadlifts lunges push-ups pull-ups

running jumping and core work what's the

purpose of all this functional exercise

anyway some people joke that it makes

them harder to kill I like to think of

it as simply making me antifragile

because I exercise in this way I rarely

get hurt I get to enjoy a lot of sports

and I live a very active healthy life to

give you one simple example think about

lifting a heavy box if you do it

incorrectly because you haven't

practiced squatting deadlifting or

carrying heavy objects you're likely to

overuse and potentially strain your

lower back muscles the worst case

scenario is you might even rupture a

disc and make yourself bedridden for a

couple of weeks or longer but if you've

been focusing on functional movements in

your training you'll be way more

comfortable lifting that suitcase or box

properly by using your entire body with

good technique you'll simply walk over

to it squat or deadlift it from the

floor using all your muscles in harmony

like you've practiced a thousand times

in the gym and put it where it needs to

go I apologize in advance when all your

friends ask you to help them move boxes

couches and refrigerators but hey at

least you can take pride in knowing that

you've built a body that is capable of

doing all that so how do you create a

functional exercise routine to start

let's hone in on your personal goals and

identify any weak spots in your body are

you after more strength or more

endurance do you have any past injuries

you should be mindful of once you've got

that sorted out you can start to

customize a routine that's perfectly

tailored to you most people should kick

things off with the classics warm-up

Mobility speed and power workor for 20

to 30 minutes the warm-up can be walking

jogging skipping running that's the gate

we talked about flexibility and Mobility

drills and then getting into the

sprinting and jumping for 5 to 15

minutes strength training which could

look like dumbbell squats push-ups one

leg deadlifts pull-ups or rows split

squats or lunges bicep curl to overhead

press and then a little bit of isolated

core and glute work in a circuit

finishing with cardio for your heart and

lungs for 10 to 15 minutes this could be

jogging running hiking jump roping

playing a game in total this whole

routine could take you 60 to 90 minutes

3 to four times a week as you can see

from the above routine we include a lot

of compound movements with free weights

in multiple planes of Direction AKA

functional exercise and of course if

you've got any specific areas that need

extra love like those shoulders core or

glutes we'll throw in some targeted

exercise to give them the TLC they

deserve this isolated work will not only

amp up your overall strength by talking

to some often undertrained areas but

also keep those pesky injuries at Bay

incorporating enjoyable activities at

the end of the workout can be fun

running jumping or playing a game can

add a fun element to your routine and

help you stay consistent in reaching

your long-term goals in conclusion

hopefully you've seen that functional

exercise is not about bosu balls and

circus tricks it's about multi-joint

movements and mostly using free weights

in multiple planes this makes you

stronger more resilient and yes harder

to kill if you need help with functional

fitness injury recovery or flexibility

check out our toprated 45-day programs

at got rom.com and if you're looking for

more personalized one-on-one coaching to

fix a chronic pain or injury book a free

15-minute call with me at got rom.com

svip and as always remember your just

one step away from building or

rebuilding your perfect

body here are some of my favorite quotes

about functional training from the

legendary Mike Bole functional training

is described in what it is not it is not

bodybuilding it is not Olympic lifting

it is training designed to improve

function to make daily tasks easier

functional training is about improving

function I.E the quality of movement we

need to think about making our clients

better instead of just making them tired

gray cook says our job is to give the

organism as many degrees of freedom as

possible to perform the task in any

given environment that's functional

training if we do not increase movement

availability so the nervous system can

select the movement pattern it needs in

the given environment than we haven't

done our job that is our job to give the

organism as many degrees of freedom as

possible so the nervous system can

select its appropriate movement pattern

given the task and the environment

that's functional training boom boom Q

explosions

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