In search of a healthier life, functional training emerges as an interesting modality for those looking to practice physical exercises. By working different muscles and body capacities during the same workout, functional training is a great option for those who like to optimize their time performing more dynamic exercises.
Functional training is organized in circuits, with a series of exercises. The coach stipulates a time to perform 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 of the main benefits that the practice of functional training can bring:
- Improves posture: Micheli says that the abdomen must be contracted, hips, shoulders and neck aligned for the movement to be well executed. This creates a body awareness and consequently the student adapts to a better posture.
- Cardiorespiratory work: Functional training requires constant speed in the practice of exercise. This generates an increase in heart rate and improves the resistance of the cardiorespiratory system.
- Helps with balance: “Most of the functional training exercises work balance and motor coordination, we work a lot with our own body weight”, says Micheli. As this training requires a resourcefulness of the whole body, the student must remain balanced for its execution.
- Tones the muscles: the work of strength and resistance that the exercises in circuit provide, potentiate the gain of lean mass, which helps in the muscular definition.
- Slimming: according to Micheli, functional training provides a great caloric burn due to the time of execution of the exercises and their intensity. Which generates the increase in heart rate that makes the person reach their fat burning zone.
- Increases flexibility: “the movements of the exercises in this workout are performed with full amplitude, since we work with the whole body, and this causes the muscle to lengthen.” Micheli also says that he always separates the final minutes of his class so that the students do a good stretch of the whole body.
In addition to the physical benefits, many other areas of health can improve. Micheli comments that his students have reported many times that after starting this training, they started to sleep better, feel less headaches, have 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 follow-up. Throughout the circuit, a teacher accompanies the students not only to control the exercise time, but also to assist them in the execution and, if necessary, correct posture or movement.
The fact that the same exercises are performed by all students in a functional class is an issue that the trainer must be aware of. Depending on the difficulties and physical conditions of each one, some more complex movements can cause some injury, especially those that require greater stability of the knee and hip.
Therefore, the student must always inform if he has any specific difficulty or an existing injury, so that the coach is attentive and adapts the exercise according to his needs. In this way, coach Micheli advises that the activity is always accompanied by a professional. He or she will not only assist in injury prevention, but will also treat each student individually as per his or her specifications.
Food: what to eat to practice functional training?
The results of functional training can be highly potentiated if there is a joint work between food and physical exercise. As with other modalities, it is necessary to maintain a balanced diet and consume plenty of water.
“Before training, it’s important to eat light things, avoid heavy foods like pasta and bread, or even eat too much”, says Micheli, who explains that this can slow down metabolism, generating fatigue and this impairs the student’s development during training. the train.
It is also not recommended that the student stay for a long time without eating before practicing physical activity. This can cause dizziness, low blood pressure and will also cause him to lose lean mass. Therefore, following a nutritionist with a specific diet can be a good alternative.
Functional training X Bodybuilding
Both modalities are great paths to a healthier life through physical exercise. It’s all a matter of preference and goals.
Micheli mentions that the focus of bodybuilding is to work on strength and aims to increase lean mass. Functional, on the other hand, focuses on various body skills, such as flexibility, agility, endurance, power, etc.
That is, if your goal is to gain more lean mass than to lose weight, an alternative is to combine functional training with weight training. If your goal is only weight loss, maybe functional training can help you more because the 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 can be repeated as many times as the teacher deems necessary, depending on the class time. Come on:
1. Agility Ladder
This exercise is a great example of how functional works with the whole body, as it moves feet, legs and arms, training agility and motor coordination in a very complete aerobic exercise.
2. Step: up and down
Works motor coordination, legs and the faster you run, the more calories you burn.
3. Front shoulder lunge lunge
An exercise that trains many skills such as balance, posture, strength and endurance. It works the quadriceps, glutes and shoulders muscles.
4. Displacement and Jumps
Jumps are exercises that are often performed in functional training, as they perform a wide movement of the whole body, great for working the heart muscles, resistance, strength and power.
5. Medicine ball squats
This is a weighted squat variation that works the entire body. In this exercise, we can see work on the calves, legs, abdomen, back and shoulders, as well as work on breathing, a little balance and power.
These exercises were suggested by coach Micheli to demonstrate how functional training aims at a complete job, developing different skills and muscle groups in a single exercise. It is worth trying this form 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.
The information contained on this page is for informational purposes only. They do not replace the advice and follow-up of doctors, nutritionists, psychologists, physical education professionals and other specialists.