Even if you work out regularly, you can still “put your back out” by doing something as ordinary as vacuuming, getting out of your car, or removing a suitcase from a luggage carousel. First, there’s a jolt of pain and then the next thing you know, you’re bent over like someone twice your age, looking for a heating pad and painkillers.
It makes sense if you never exercise, but how can it happen if you exercise regularly at a gym or fitness centre?
It happens because conventional workouts and weight training regimens are designed to exercise individual muscle groups in isolation. Real-life exertions involve multiple muscle groups in your upper and lower body. If they aren’t exercised together, they’re unprepared to work together.
What you need is a workout that takes an integrated approach to muscle strengthening: a functional fitness program.
How functional fitness works
Functional fitness is all about building muscle strength in your core (torso) by means of exercises that mimic common everyday activities that involve multiple muscle groups tensing and stretching. These actions may seem unremarkable, but physiologically, they’re quite complex.
A functional fitness routine builds mobility and flexibility first. Only then does it shift its emphasis to building strength.
It doesn’t require expensive equipment. It involves exercises like squats, lunges and pushups, as well as simple aids like exercise balls, dumbbells, resistance bands, kettlebells, foam rollers, steppers or stairs, and a suspension system that uses gravity and body weight to develop balance, flexibility, core stability and strength.
Personal Training at Healthletica
You don’t have to be a Healthletica member to take advantage of our private personal training sessions and learn how to prevent future injuries that can arise from everyday activities.
Call or email us at info@healthletica.ca to request a personal consultation and arrange for private 1:1 training tailored to your specific needs.
