One of the top health and wellness trends of 2024 is functional fitness. These types of exercises are designed to move your body in specific ways that mimic everyday movements. Functional fitness increases mobility, range of motion and core stability. By training your body to strengthen the muscles you use in everyday life, you reduce the risk of injury and increase quality of life.
Some examples of functional fitness exercises include: squats (like sitting in a chair), planks (helpful for getting up off the ground), step downs (mimics descending a set of stairs), step ups (as in climbing stairs), rows (think of it like moving a heavy object from a countertop or your car trunk) and running, jumping, and walking. The main focus with functional fitness is performance, and it will also help you to increase overall strength.
To design an effective functional fitness workout, you will want to include components that create progress in strength, balance, power, mobility and range of motion.
Functional fitness is great for all ages and levels of fitness because the exercises can be done with just body weight or with added resistance from hand weights or bands – the exercises are easy to modify to intensity and experience. Another benefit is that these workouts can be done in the comfort of your own home – you don’t need access to gym equipment to get a great functional fitness workout!
*As always, if you have injuries or other medical conditions always consult a doctor before beginning any fitness regimen.
