When we think about strength training, more often than not we picture an incredibly oiled up muscular person in the gym lifting a heavy barbell stacked with weights. While this is what strength training was originally known for, today this form of exercising goes beyond bodybuilding competitions and is beneficial for other things like weight loss, a leaner more toned figure, improved heart health, reduced belly fat, and much more. Strength training also comes in many forms. A word that you hear thrown around in the fitness community is functional strength training. In today’s article, we shall be taking you through what functional training is, the difference between traditional fitness and functional fitness, how this specific type of exercise can benefit you, plus much more.
Functional training is a form of exercise that helps improve your body’s ability to perform everyday tasks and activities. This type of training often uses free weights, compound movements, as well as aerobic exercises that mirror/mimic everyday movements.
Unlike traditional strength training which often requires more explosive movements, the use of complicated gym machinery, and sometimes extremely heavy weights, functional training is more dynamic and more often than not uses full body movements.
For example, when working your legs in traditional fitness, one would perhaps opt to use a leg press, however, in functional fitness you would instead do jump squats as not only do they work your legs but the squatting movement is one that we use in everyday life.
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In terms of definition, functional fitness is described as a form of exercising that uses body weight as well as simple weights to help you perform everyday movements and activities better. On the other hand, traditional strength training is defined as a form of exercising that isolates muscles and works them to exhaustion using heavy weights and machinery to increase the strength and size of your muscles.
The table below helps highlight the major differences between these two types of training programs:
| Functional Strength Training | Traditional Strength Training |
|---|---|
| Uses full body exercises thus can be used as a full body workout | Isolates of one muscle group and works it to exhaustion |
| Simple but extensive equipment – These exercises only call for bodyweight, resistance bands or simple free weights like dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls, etc. | Heavy weights & complicate machinery – These are not always readily available or easy to use for many |
| Uses compound movements that target and combine multiple muscle groups | Uses simple movements that only target one muscle group at a time |
| Low risk of injury – As long as your form is correct, you are highly unlikely to injure yourself | High risk of injury – This is often due to the very heavy weights used. Also because this workout calls for muscle isolation, you might unknowingly overwork a muscle |
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Research shows that these types of exercises help with (2, 5, 4, 3):
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As previously stated, functional fitness exercises not only mimic daily life movements, but they also use large groups of muscles all working together across your body. Some common functional workouts that you can start doing today include
Yes, it is. Like the basic bodyweight squat, the Bulgarian squat is considered a functional strength training exercise. This workout is great for the lower body, especially the glutes and quads. Apart from this, the workout also exercises your core and using weights can also add resistance and work the muscles in your arms. The Bulgarian split squat also improves single-leg strength and power (6).
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This setting is meant to be used when you are doing dynamic strength sequences for either the upper, lower or full body workouts using either your body weight, resistance bands or free weights like kettlebells, dumbbells, or medicine balls (8).
Please note the dynamic strength sequences are exercises that involve the movement of your muscles and joints eg. pushups, deadlifts, bench press, etc.
Yes, you can (1, 7). Remember that at the end of the day, functional fitness is still a form of strength training and all strength training exercises lead to muscle growth.
This all depends on your goals. As seen while functional fitness can build muscle, it is best suited for daily movements and activities – to help you become stronger, more balanced and coordinated. On the other hand, traditional strength training, while also being a form of functional fitness, is best suited for those who want bigger and more defined muscles.
At the end of the day, both functional and traditional strength training are equally important for overall health and well being.
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