why function matters in fitness
many of us are wasting precious time.
While many work out to stay active, avoid chronic disease, or maintain a certain figure, there’s one element that often goes under the radar.
Function.
Physical activity is the doorway to staying functional in all aspects of life, but this will only be achieved if you prioritize it in your training. In this post, we’ll take a look at why the third pillar of my philosophy (function) is arguably the most important, and why people overlook it entirely.
“The principle of specificity states that fitness training should be relevant and appropriate to the activity for which the individual is training in order to produce the desired effect.”
While there’s nothing wrong with working out to just get moving, hit a goal, or feel better in your body, I want to challenge you to make your habits around fitness a bit more tailored to your life as a whole. To get you in this mindset, it may be helpful to ask yourself these questions…
What ranges of motions or muscles do I find myself recruiting most in my day-to-day?
What sports or leisure activities are taking up most of my time?
What muscles or joints feel most cranky when I’m participating in physical activity?
If you can begin to identify what activities and movements are being done most frequently / causing you the most problems, you’re already miles ahead of folks who blindly follow generic workout plans.
One of the most underrated aspects of fitness is exercise selection. Why not work smarter and not harder?
After working with hundreds of individuals in both general fitness and rehab contexts, there always seems to be a pivotal shift once clients begin to take functional fitness seriously. From my experience, this upgrade in personalization not only expedites results and drastically lowers injury risk, but it fosters more purpose and agency over healthy choices as a whole.
This is the ultimate goal.
To be so in-tuned with your body and educated around fitness that you can mold your own habits based on what moves you (literally) throughout life.
To help drive this point home, let’s look at a quick case study.
Fred, 39 (fictional character), is a landscaper who works 40 hours a week and struggles with the physical demands of his job. Specifically, he’s had chronic pain in his back and shoulders for the past couple of years. His friends tell him he needs to do structured workouts outside of work so he forces himself to run hard 4-5 times per week. He complains of feeling tired and sluggish on most days.
Looking at this from a functional fitness perspective, there are a few smart choices Fred can make to feel better in his body and reduce fatigue.
Begin implementing shoulder + back-specific mobility drills. This is about building a foundation and a healthy range of motion to complete each task without compensation.
After a healthy level of mobility is established, start doing endurance-based movements that will support the areas that have been most vulnerable. This should include exercises that closely mimic the ranges of motion and recruitment patterns that he’s doing most often while landscaping (digging, twisting, bending over, kneeling, etc…). These can all be done at home with very minimal equipment.
Decrease weekly runs to 1-2x moderate efforts per week and monitor fatigue or even consider finding a new cardio-based activity that would be more enticing and promote better stress relief.
While it may sound like a lot, all of this can be achieved in just a few minutes per day on average. While adherence can be a big challenge when starting new habits, if there is a direct connection to both occupational wellness and overall energy levels I find that intrinsic motivation is quite high. Small changes like this tend to have immediate impacts which helps people stick around.
While this is obviously a fictional case, I see similar stories like this all the time. The moment one’s focus turns to function, it’s like a new world opens up…
Exercise starts feeling easier.
Nagging injuries slowly go away.
More work is done in less time.
Fewer resources are spent trying to seek quick fixes.
And most importantly, you feel more in control.
In closing, I want to leave a few reasons why to (and not to) perform a certain exercise. Before you implement a new movement or habit into your routine, I encourage you to go over this checklist to ensure you’re prioritizing function and are working efficiently.
Poor exercise selection rationale:
Because it’s what you’ve always done
Because other people are doing it
Because it makes you look cool
Because it’s comfortable/you’re really strong at it
Because you “have to do it”
Good exercise selection rationale:
Because it’s relevant to your work/hobbies/sports/etc…
Because it’s safely challenging injured or weak tissues
Because it’s accessible and sustainable for you moving forward
Because it’s giving you more energy, focus, and motivation to move
Because it’s helping you live pain-free
Here’s to making educated decisions around your fitness and getting meaningful results that last!
It’s time to walk the walk! Come grab one of my programs and get started today. You won’t regret it.
