Editorial Trial. Features of functional training

Who will benefit from functional training: those who want to improve the quality of their body, lose weight, become stronger – in general, for everyone, regardless of their goals.

What the training is aimed at: functional training is a program of exercises that develops all five qualities of our body: speed, endurance, strength, coordination, balance.

Level of difficulty: of course, it all depends on the content. We rated our class today a 6 out of 10.

15:01. We start the workout with some light cardio. Anyone who is not a frequent guest on a morning jog in the park will have a hard time at first. The trainer says that the habituation to cardio load comes about 5-10th session. At the same time, we communicate and try to understand what is so unique about today’s training.

– What is functional training?
Igor, fitness manager of World Class Metropolis: Functional training helps a person to improve what he does every day: getting out of bed, tying shoelaces, raising his hands up and holding on to the handrail in the subway. All movements that are natural to our body and that we improve during the class.

The philosophy of functional training is that it is not just a scheduled exercise, but rather a lifestyle.

– What is the optimal periodicity for functional training?
Igor: I don’t see any limitations in principle. I mean, for example, serious strength training requires periodic rest. In turn, functional training, if it is properly distributed, can be every day. Obviously, it is not worth killing yourself every day and doing a complex and lengthy workout.

workout. It is enough to do exercises in the morning or a light warm-up during the day. The biggest advantage of functional training is that almost all groups of exercises are related to it in one way or another.

To be more specific, for people who don’t do much of anything at all, I recommend doing a full workout at least twice a week. Fitness newbies will have a hard time getting through more than three workouts a week.

15:10. Still running. The track beneath me is mechanical, which makes it a little more difficult because my speed drops and increases time after time due to my own stride. It’s much more complicated than when you set a fixed speed on an electric treadmill and stick to it.

– So functional training essentially allows for variability of exercises?
Igor: Absolutely. Functional training itself is basically taken from the textbook on physical culture of the USSR. And it was taken not by us, but by the Americans. They do not hide it. Therefore, from basic physical training to the training of professional athletes, it will all be considered functional training. This is its great advantage, because it is suitable for any level of load. This training improves the feeling of yourself, your body.

– What parts does the training consist of?
Igor: Each exercise should involve as many muscle groups as possible. It is desirable that in your warm-up there are exercises that work the whole body. It is important to set the right accents, if you work out with a trainer, then it is a little easier, the trainer will be able to feel where to emphasize and adjust the training program for you right along the way. So, for example, today our workout was emphasized on the bottom and on the core – abdominal muscles, back, spine. But this is only if we are talking about personal training. If it is group training, there is a certain sequence of exercises and its own technique: warming up from top to bottom or from bottom to top, from larger muscles to smaller ones.

15:20. The emphasis of our workout today is balance, working the back and leg muscles. They say that appetite comes at mealtime, and appetite for sports comes about 20-25 minutes after you start training. Don’t believe it? It’s time to give it a try.

– So, in essence, functional training can be both our morning exercise or personal training in the gym, and a group class in a fitness club?
Igor: Absolutely! It is because of its versatility that it has become so popular. It is everywhere, everyone uses it, they talk about it a lot. Nothing cooler has been invented yet! Although there was no need to invent anything, it was there in the Soviet times, people just didn’t realize that it was functional training and called it a simple word “charging”. Its great advantage is its simplicity. That’s why, for example, I like to do training without equipment, without additional equipment and weights. Because working with your own weight is the hardest.

– One of the components of functional training are cardio exercises. How to start doing cardio without harming the body? How can I introduce cardio exercises into my sports regimen?
Igor: In fact, in running, as in any other sport, the main thing is to start. And you need to start carefully and cautiously, not to rush straight into the maelstrom with your head. If after 100 meters your breathing is confused and you feel that it is hard for you to run, just stop and go further on foot. As soon as you feel your breathing is back to normal, keep running. Start incorporating cardio workouts into your regimen in the format of “run a little – walk a little – run a little – walk some more”. That is, an interval approach to running. Over time, you should lengthen your running time, and decrease your walking time. After 5-10 trainings you will start running more or less evenly. Naturally, the cardiorespiratory system should be prepared for running in any case, and this is where basic exercises from functional training will come in handy again.

Running on a treadmill is an ideal exercise to start your training. I make sure to include a variety of jumps and planks in my program. Don’t forget about the famous Tabata system, which is actively used by motorcyclists and cyclists in their training. Its essence is to accelerate the heart rate to a peak and lower it to a minimum (the system “20 seconds of work – 10 seconds of rest”).

15:30. I stand on a balance half-sphere (it is such a board, instead of the base of which is half of an inflatable ball). Standing is not difficult, the closer your feet are to the edges, the easier it is to keep your balance. But to perform a deep squat (!) in this position, and then to fix your position is already a “challenge with a star”. The trainer advises to always look in front of you. This is really very important. Look ahead, visualize what you are striving for, so it is easier to perform even the most incredible exercises.

– How long should a training session last optimally?
Igor: I have long been against long workouts. For me, the ideal workout is 45 minutes. Of course, I know people who can take more, but they don’t need it. 10 minutes for warm-up, 10 minutes for warm-down, 30-40 minutes for a full functional workout is quite enough. If you do something at home, if it happens every day, then daily 15 minute blocks are enough. The most important thing is to correctly set yourself a goal and competently distribute all the exercises. For example: today I do exercises for strength, tomorrow exercises for balance. You can fit a good workout into 15 minutes, but it should be maximally effective in terms of warming up.

You can’t sluggishly pump your abs for 15 minutes and consider yourself a hero.

– What are the main mistakes that beginners who have just joined the gym can make?
Igor: The biggest problem that exists now is Instagram. Because there are so many beautiful girls, pseudo fitness gurus and information about different completely useless diets on the Net. They make posts every day, so that they are not monotonous, they start to invent something. God forbid they give advice yet. Very often clients come in, who in the course of training watch some videos and try to repeat them. Absolutely not. I take this very seriously. If you are working out and really want to repeat something from Instagram exercises, it is better to approach your trainer. The trainer will be able to help you do some introductory exercises, help you understand the essence of what you want to do. It is very important. – Is there any drinking regimen that should be observed during training?
Igor: You should drink as much as you want. I have no other recommendations. In my opinion, there is no drinking regimen in principle. If I don’t want to drink 3.5 liters of water a day, then I don’t need it. If I am thirsty, my body gives me natural signals: for example, my lips dry up or I feel thirsty. Very often people come in, drink 1.5 liters of water in the warm-up and then are unable to train because their stomach is full of water. Nothing good about that.

15:35. Drank, I think, my second or third glass of water. I usually take more per workout, but it’s really important to listen to your body and not try to turn your stomach into a fishbowl.

– What is better to eat before training and how long before?
Igor: Everything is very individual and depends on the human metabolism. In any case, I advise not to come to the training session hungry. It is better to eat something light and simple an hour or half an hour before training. For example, a banana. This will just give sugar into the bloodstream and promote quick energy production. Because it’s very common, especially beginners, to faint at a workout because they didn’t eat anything before. And this is normal, hypoglycemia is when the body simply does not have enough energy to cope with the load that involves training. There is nothing wrong with this, it is enough in such a case just to drink tea with sugar. But we realize that the training did not take place, and all just because the person before it did not eat anything.

– Does functional training help to boost metabolism?
Igor: Functional training and any interval training is a type of sports training that allows a person to maximize the acceleration of their natural processes. Because after training for two days, our metabolism improves and speeds up. We recover from high-intensity and interval training up to 4-6 times longer than after a normal workout. During the recovery process we naturally have an accelerated fat burning process. So definitely yes, functional training is one of the first weight loss training programs.

15:40. I feel like I’ve already lost a million thousand calories. The most difficult exercise today was working with a stuffed ball. It weighs a lot. And even the simplest exercises from the series toss the ball, pass it to the coach or do 50 lunges with the ball in his hands, will require you to gather willpower in a fist. The main thing is not to stop: do slowly, do a little faster, listen to your body. In between exercises, walk and recover your breath, never sit down.

– If I want to start doing functional training regularly today, what would you advise me? Where should I start?
Igor: On the one hand, you can always start by simply including a number of complex muscle training exercises in your daily exercise routine. On the other hand, if we’re talking about heavy loads, it’s either classes with a trainer: you just have to come to the gym and start, or group classes. Recently we have opened a studio in our club for group functional training. The zest of this program is that it was created exclusively by World Class trainers. Before the session each participant is given a personal cardio monitor so that the trainer can monitor his/her heart rate. At the end of the training session, each participant receives a letter with an upload of his or her indicators, and if it’s not the first session, a small report on the dynamics, how he or she has improved his or her indicators, how he or she is moving towards his or her goal.

15:50. At the end of the workout, it’s important to do a proper warm-up. If you’re working out with a trainer, you’ll most likely get stretching for all muscle groups. If not, make sure you stretch all the muscles you emphasized during the workout.

Igor: To summarize the answer to the question in a nutshell, the hardest part of it all is deciding that you want to start training. The philosophy of functional training is that it’s not just a schedule exercise, it’s more of a lifestyle, it’s when you incorporate exercise into your daily routine and every day you notice how you’re improving the quality of your life.

15:55. The workout is over and it’s time to just collapse on any horizontal surface and not move. But then some incredible miracle happened: my strength didn’t go anywhere, it increased and multiplied. I leave the hall with a feeling that there is so much to do today. Perhaps, this is another conclusion that is important and should be made at the end of our training: doing sports on a regular basis helps to increase the vitality of our body, to let our brain know how much we can do, to increase our mood and get a charge of vigor for the rest of the day.

So the choice here is yours: start exercising in the morning or choose to workout after work to open up your second wind and have time to get a lot of things done around the house! Personally, I’ve already decided what I’m going to challenge myself to next time, so I’ll see you at the park run tomorrow morning.