Functional exercise reawakes the communication between your muscles, bones and nervous system.
Ease and strength in all three planes of motion
Think about when you take a step. Your legs move forwards and backwards, that much is obvious. So you probably think your hips are just moving forwards and backwards too. But actually every time you take a step, your hips are also moving from side to side, and they’re rotating.
If you’re only strong in the forwards and backwards movement, you will have a deficit in your joints’ ability to move side to side and in rotation. That deficit will cause you to compensate in other areas. Over time, this causes wear and tear on your joints.
Functional exercise teaches you to move easily and with strength through all three planes of motion. Therefore functional exercise will help you prevent the deficits that lead to injuries.
For example: functional exercises for the hips [link to the video of hip exercises] will take you through all three planes of motion. You’ll move your hips forwards and backwards. You’ll move them from side to side. And you’ll rotate them.
Your full range of motion
The hips are a particularly good example of how functional exercise can help. If you’re like most of us these days, you spend a lot of your working day sitting still. The muscles in the front of your hips adapt by getting shorter.
Then, in the evenings or on weekends, you might be more active. It’s great to be active, don’t get us wrong. The problem is that because the muscles at the front of your hips are now short and tight, it’s hard for them to respond when you ask them to stretch. Another joint has to provide the lost movement.
It’s usually the joints in the lower back that compensate in this way for your tight hips. You then overuse your lower back, and you can end up injured.
Functional exercise helps you stretch and strengthen at the same time. You’re moving all the time, gently or vigorously depending on what works best for you. The movements of each exercise take your joints through their full range of motion and back to a starting position that is neutral.
Doing functional exercise regularly helps you make sure that you can move in any way you need to whenever you need to – no matter what you do for the rest of your day.
Dynamic movements
In your joints, tendons and muscles, there are little receptors called proprioceptors.
These proprioceptors let you know about your position in and movement through space. They provide you with information about joint angle, muscle length and muscle tension. They trigger protective reflexes when necessary.
Some proprioceptors respond to movement, some to speed, some to stretch, and some to contracting the muscles around the joint.
The static stretching that you may be used to – like holding a hamstring stretch for 15 seconds – stimulates one or two of the proprioceptors.
The dynamic, ever-flowing movements of functional exercise stimulate all the different types of proprioceptors.
You end up with a greater awareness of yourself in space, and a greater ability to move with ease and comfort.
