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Functional workouts are all about exercising using movement patterns that carry over and improve your functional in everyday life.
The Need for Functional Training is becoming more and more important with the increasing prevalence of sedentary jobs and the use of computers in the workplace.
Most people today do not exercise or train their bodies properly. With the popularity of bodybuilding came the popularity of exercise machines and body part training. And while this did help bodybuilders gain significant amounts of muscle, it did very little to improve the function of their bodies.
And this is why many bodybuilders end up with muscular imbalances that cause severe pain. And this is also why you don’t see bodybuilders competing in sports and other challenges that require functional strength and not just muscle mass.
The truth is that all functional workouts should take into consideration, 6 primal movement patterns in order to balance the body and reduce your chance of pain and dysfunction.
6 Primal Movement Patterns
Squat
If you’ve every seen a toddler looking at something on the ground you would probably notice that he/she squats down to get closer to the ground. This is because squatting is a natural movement pattern that built in to our nervous system.
And it should go as no surprise that squatting is one of the most important movement patterns of all. In fact, it needs to be an integral part of all functional workouts. This is because it’s important for not only balancing the pelvis but also for maintaining proper digestion. The pressure that is placed on the viscera help move things along. But most importantly, squatting is how we are programmed by nature to evacuate our bowels.
But you might be surprised about how many people cannot even squat under their own bodyweight.
Bend
Bending is another very important movement pattern that should be included in all of your functional workouts. Anytime you pick something up off the floor you bend over to pick it up. And during caveman times when we didn’t have all of the luxuries of today, we use to bend multiple times on a daily basis to pick up many of the items we needed to survive.
Lunge
When it comes to functional workouts, lunging is all too often forgotten. But lunging is another pattern that has been engrained in our nervous system from the time that our homosapien ancestors began walking upright. We had to traverse the land that wasn’t always flat and in order to do this successfully, we had to lunge over uneven ground and other obstacles that would get in the way.
Push
Pushing is another primal movement pattern that we used on a daily basis as cavemen. How else do you think we moved heavy things out of the way and lifted/pressed heavy objects overhead?
Pull
Pulling was an important movement pattern that is very often overlooked when it comes to functional workouts. In caveman times we use to have to pull heavy things for long distances such as the carcass of whatever was hunted for that day or other materials needed for survival.
Twist
Twisting was a movement pattern that really improved our ability to hunt. Throwing rocks and spears all required a twisting movement pattern. And because we live our lives in all 3 dimensions, it’s important to incorporate twisting or rotation patterns into your functional workouts to ensure that you maintain optimal function in everyday life.
Even though with the luxuries of modern society the physical needs of our bodies haven’t changed much since caveman times. But today our bodies rarely move in the same manner that they use to move on a daily basis. And this is big reason why so many people suffer from physical aches, pains, and dysfunction. And this is also the reason why everyone should be incorporating functional workouts into their everyday activities.
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