What is Functional Fitness and How to Get Some
As we age, maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle becomes increasingly important. Functional fitness is an approach that not only helps older adults stay physically active but also enhances their ability to perform everyday activities with ease and confidence. In this article, we'll explore what functional fitness is and provide practical tips for older adults to get started on their journey towards a more functional and fulfilling life.
Understanding Functional Fitness:
Functional fitness focuses on exercises and movements that mimic the activities we perform in daily life. Instead of isolating specific muscle groups, functional exercises engage multiple muscles simultaneously, promoting overall strength, balance, flexibility, and coordination. The goal is to enhance the body's ability to perform real-world tasks, such as bending, lifting, reaching, and walking.
Did you know? some people who consider themselves fit can get out of breath walking up or down stairs. Being fit in one kind of activity doesn’t necessarily flow over into other ways of moving.
Getting Started:
Think about your daily activities. Make a list of any which you don’t feel confident in. They likely fall into one of these categories:
Standing up and sitting down, from a chair or from the floor
Stepping and walking, including stairs
Lifting (groceries, grandchildren, pets)
Pushing / pulling (yard work and housework)
Gripping (opening jars, carrying grocery bags)
Most people find that while some parts of daily life are easy, others have become more difficult over time. While this is normal, it is also something you can change if you want to. Your body has the amazing ability to adapt, and in fact is always adapting, whether you know it or not.
That is why if you have spent more time sitting recently, your body finds it harder when you start moving again – adaptation has already taken place. But you can make a conscious choice to create adaptation towards greater health and fitness, all it takes is a little more practice every day.
There are functional fitness trainers you can work with to develop a plan, and if you typically don’t move about much now, this could be a good investment for you. Either way, it’s important to check with your doctor before starting any program.
If you can currently perform the daily tasks you want to, but simply want to be able to do more, then an easy way to improve is by doing more of the activity itself.
If you want to find it easier to get up out of a chair, for example, you can practice doing exactly that: every time you normally sit down to eat a meal, for example, sit and stand up again several times before sitting to eat. You can start by doing 3-5 repetitions and build up from there. It’s also okay if you need to use your arms to start with. Take your time: letting your body go through the full range of motion while in control is better than rushing to try to complete a certain number of repetitions.
You can use the same method for any functional exercise. Start with what you can do today and then try to build in opportunities to do that more frequently, or for longer every time you do it. You’ll soon find yourself building up strength and capability, your daily activities will be easier and more pleasurable, all without having to travel anywhere special, unless you want to!
Functional fitness and Balance
Good balance is an important part of functional fitness as complex movements need muscle strength, including core strength, flexibility, coordination, as well as accurate information from your sensory system to be able to perform the movements successfully.
So while practicing functional movements will help your balance system, you can also boost your improvement by including balance specific techniques to how you move around. From simple adjustments like the toe-splay exercise to more advanced ways of standing and moving, the ZIBRIO BalanceCoach app contains Better Balance Training that can guide you every step of the way. Learn the moves with Coach Roman, then see how often you can incorporate them into your daily activity. If you have access to a ZIBRIO Stability scale, you can keep track of your balance progress as you go.
Note: if any movements cause you pain, it’s important to check with a doctor to rule out injury and get an appropriate care plan.