How functional fitness trains body for daily tasks and five exercises to get you started
Our bodies use muscles and joints every day that do not get enough attention in the gym. We talk to people who want to build their strength and stability for common activities, and the instructors who are helping them
When you think of training regimes, you might imagine hoisting barbells or slogging away for hours on a treadmill. But what about training to carry boxes of belongings when you move house, or to play with your children without rolling an ankle?
These are some of the things you might focus on with a functional fitness programme.
Rather than isolating specific muscles, the aim is to help your body through a day that could involve climbing stairs, lifting heavy plates onto high shelves, bending over repeatedly to pick up a ball, or myriad other activities, depending on your lifestyle. The “training” reflects that multiple muscle groups and joints are often in use with these activities.
Dr Christopher See has been training for around six months with Andrew Cox, the director of training at Joint Dynamics in Hong Kong. See says he noticed the difference in his body while repeatedly lifting boxes during a recent move to a new house.
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As a lecturer at the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), See says he encourages students to look at exercise as medicine, and wants to practise what he preaches.
He thinks that his body had become out of proportion through years of bad training habits. A knee injury around a year ago, and plans to start a family, prompted him to reconsider his approach.