Putting the Fun back into Functional Fitness

Fitness trends come and go - different ways to exercise rise and fall in popularity. You look around and suddenly everyone's doing Zumba, or indoor cycling, or Crossfit so it's always interesting to see what's next?

At the latest Fitness Writers Association event the focus was on Functional Training - a way of working out that uses dynamic multiple joint movements to mimic moves done in everyday life, and produce efficient results in a short time. This sort of exercise has of course been around for a long time but bootcamps, gyms and personal trainers are starting to see a rise in popularity, and are developing classes (such as the LA Fitness Primal Series) that incorporate this method of group functional training.

Sessions use basic movements like pushing, pulling, squatting, rotating, carrying and running - things we do every day. We got a quick 30minute taster session from the event hosts at LA Fitness Aldgate and were definitely made to sweat!

Working in this manner means there's no predictable pattern of movement, the body's response is more natural and not confined to the restrictions of a machine.

As you can see in the above photos, we were using large medicine balls for some of the moves, and other sessions also incorporate sandbags, kettlebells, bosu and dumbells.

As part of the evening, we were also given a demonstration of two new bits of kit which use hydroinertia - the power of water- to take that workout to the next level.

The Surge and the Kamagon ball (sold by Physical Company) both contain water - the amount of which can be adjusted to vary the weight. Movements using the equipment are then different every single time as the water moves around, and puts much more focus on using the core for stability.

Examples include keeping the water very still and controlled during a rep, dumping the water from one side to another, using explosive power to generate a water crash, or oscillations with quick repetitive back and forth motions.

After giving them a try, you can really feel the extra effort required to move against the water, and that point of no-return where the "slosh" down to the other end takes your arms and your balance!

The final speaker introduced us to calisthenics, another mode of functional training, but one that is purely focused on using your own bodyweight.

This means that it incorporates the whole body, and is suitable for all levels - despite feeling a little intimidated by the impressive moves of those at the top of their game! This style of training has gained a huge social media following, due to the stylish cool videos posted on YouTube, but we were assured that it is absolutely accessible to all. I would say it requires more upper body strength, but perhaps that's just because the upper body moves are more impressive to demonstrate!

Check out Georgina's blog post for her experience with Stephen Hughes-Landers, the UK number 1 ranked calisthenics athlete (seen in the above video).

To find out more about the Fitness Writers Association head to their Facebook page or follow on Twitter- it was a great evening including a sweaty workout and interesting speakers, and an awesome goodybag!

Do you include functional workouts or calisthenics in your training? I will definitely be looking to incorporate more varied sessions- the added strength and stability can only be a good complement to running, although I think it may be a long time before I can pull off a muscle up or human flag!

Beki x

NB: Photos courtesy of Fitness Writers.