The new Fitness hype!

Functional Training is a training concept that keeps you fit for daily life. With functional training you do not use complicated fitness machines, because in Functional training it is believed that moving should be FUN!

Functional training is not a new concept; We have been moving this way for many years. Athletes and strongmen were lifting, bending and twisting hundreds of years ago. The main difference between functional training and body building training is that functional training trains movements, not isolated muscles.  With functional training you imitate daily movements like walking, bending, lifting, walking stairs, and by doing that you reduce the chance on injuries. Balance, strength and coordination are the basic components of Functional training. So with functional training you do not work with complicated fitness machines, instead you do balance games, bal games, short sprints, but also walking lunges, burpees and starjumps.

Functional training is now the new buzz phrase in the fitness and performance enhancement industry. It has become popular because of its main premise, training movements not muscles. This movement training approach provides many benefits; let’s take a look at some of them.

• Improved balance and stability.
• Better results using less weight then traditional strength training exercises.
• Less wear and tear on the body due to a more holistic approach to training.
• Burns more calories because of greater muscle mass involvement.

It’s safe, effective, and fun.  Instead of sitting on a bunch of machines and doing three sets of ten repetitions on each, functional training creates a playground-type training environment.  Imagine training with bright coloured medicine balls, bands, balance equipment, stability balls, weights, bodyweight exercises and many other modalities. This training approach can be tailored to all fitness levels, from the senior population to the elite athletics.

Functional training addresses all of the training needs of today’s fitness or health consumer.  For those wishing to lose some weight, it is a very effective way to start your cardio training and calorie burn, while developing a muscular body that performs as well as it looks.  For those rehabilitating an injury, functional training is the best choice for accelerated rehabilitation. Better yet, functional training can greatly reduce the likelihood of an injury ever occurring. Functional training is the newest and fastest way to enhance performance with half the work volume (i.e. weight lifted) of more traditional methods.

And the nice thing is that, because it does not include any fitness machines, you can do this outside as well! Many fitness centres and sport schools start doing functional training outside, in a park or on the beach, which gives an extra positive dimension to your training session.

Now we have developed a new type of fitness holiday in collaboration with the Son Caliu Hotel, where daily functional training sessions on the beach are combined with relaxation and getting a sun tan. For more information click here.