Functional training: what it is, exercise review, benefits and harms * Crossfit

Functional training is an activity that develops the following physical qualities: agility, coordination, mobility, endurance, strength. But the term is so vague that they already mean anything by it. The author of the book "Fitness for the Smart" Dmitry Smirnov writes that the most functional are exercises consisting of various squats, deadlifts, presses and pull-ups. Greg Glassman, the inventor of CrossFit, adds gymnastics, kettlebell lifting, and weightlifting snatches and jerks. And in some rural fitness club we will see girls jumping around the perimeter with rubber bands for pumping the buttocks. The lesson will also be called "functional training".

We have before us the largest commercial fitness project in the last 20 years. And a pretty good physical training system, if you approach it wisely.

The essence of functional training

The priority is not to pump some muscles and aesthetics of the body. It is about ensuring healthy mobility and preventing injuries in sports and everyday life. Therefore, the beginner will perform deadlifts of a light kettlebell off the floor in order to safely put bags of groceries in the trunk. The footballer is a deadweight player with decent weights on the barbell, because his goal is to develop maximum power when he runs after the ball. Sprinter - jumping with a barbell. An eternally losing weight young lady with about 10 years of experience and symptoms of fatigue on her face - some exotic attacks to the side with a turn of the body.

This is a universal methodological technique, which is as follows:

To develop healthy joint mobility and mobility in general, squats, pulls from the floor, pull-ups or their imitation, presses in all planes and lifts to the platform are given.
Endurance is formed by the same exercises, but in the mode "30-50 seconds under load, a minute of rest."
Strength - Again the same versatile set, but in the 3-6 rep range for 3-7 sets, with rest to recovery and substantial bar weights.
Coordination for team sports - complex movements, for example, thrusters, that is, a hybrid of the front squat and upward press, and various attacks on unstable platforms such as the barefoot.
Tactical qualities for special services, army and police - strength training in low-repetition mode in combination with the so-called "metabolic", or interval, for strength endurance. This allows the soldier to run through the desert with a wounded comrade on his shoulders and periodically shoot back from the enemy, and the policeman can catch up with any bandit in 10 seconds.

And why, then, do women in group classes do lunges on their bare feet and simultaneously bend their arms to the biceps? It is unlikely that this is a preparatory functional surfing workout. So the instructor entertains them, distracts them from monotony and loads them with physical activity. This is where the drama begins. Strength fitness professionals deny group functional training as traumatic and useless. YouTube stars are promoting, because in 20 minutes a day you can “revel in” so much that there will be a complete illusion that you are training intensively. Leading weight loss marathons are also promoting, and even as an alternative to strength training for health.

Benefit

Globally functional fitness has brought people back to physical activity. He convinced the masses that half an hour of regular exercise a day and a circuit workout would be enough to look decent, have strong muscles, low body fat, good mobility, and avoid back pain from sedentary work.

Pros for the layman:

Saves time. The workouts are organized according to the principle of a circular or interval, do not require much rest between sets and allow you to keep within 30-40 minutes with the study of all muscle groups.
Increases metabolic response. After such a workout, the body uses oxygen more actively and spends more energy. It is easier to lose weight if you follow a rational diet.
Works on all muscle groups. Don't worry about biceps, brachialis and gluteus medius.
Helps do less cardio. Typical functional training trains the heart too. Long hours on the track are unnecessary. It is enough to add 30 minutes of the WHO-recommended walk a day to produce vitamin D.

Pros for the athlete:

Prevention of injuries.
Improving performance in the main sport.
Supports beneficial body composition.
Psychological relief.

Types of functional training

There are two large types:

Group fitness classes.
Training according to an individual program to develop certain qualities.

The first ones are implemented within the framework of the Functional, Athletic Body, NTC, Body Rock and other similar programs. The bottom line is in a constantly changing set of movements based on squats, lunges, push-ups, burpees, standing dumbbell presses and various deadlifts. The group performs counting exercises, usually spending a minute under load and moving quickly from one exercise to the next. Rest 1-2 minutes between cycles. Physiologically, this is aerobics. But marketers tell us that it replaces power. Yes, if we are talking about a typical request "somehow lose weight to the beach." And no, if you need a serious correction of the client's posture, the elimination of muscle imbalances, the consequences of prolonged physical inactivity or the banal "pumping" of the buttocks, shoulders, biceps and everything that outstanding people usually want to see.

Functional training of bloggers can also be attributed to this large class. Example - Zuzana Light, Sugary Six Pack, Katya Buida, Crazy Drying Project and others. They are united by catchy titles of videos and typical content:

a lot of burpees and jumpin jacks between exercises;
more jumps from squats and lunges;
microdumbbells for hands, with which they perform some kind of curl on the biceps during squats;
obligatory planks and twists;
push-ups are also required.

Such programs are good for a person without problems with ODA and a lot of excess weight, but with the experience of doing the same squats, push-ups and lunges. A large volume will help tone the muscles and increase calorie consumption, the figure will improve, body fat will disappear (of course, subject to a competent diet).

CrossFit is highlighted in group programs. If we're not talking about performing athletes, then this is a high-intensity program that combines real strength and weightlifting exercises with aerobic work in the high heart rate zone. It allows you to develop "everything" if you approach the technique and put it right. Or it will be an easy way to burn calories for someone who makes movements in half the amplitude and "as best they can."

Individual functional programs are written on demand and can include a wide variety of elements.

Basic exercises and equipment

You can break down the entire arsenal of modern functional training by types of movements and equipment used. Although different sources divide it into workouts for women, for men, for beginners and even for people who are overweight. In general, the classification of the main exercises looks like this:

Exercise types	Squats	Lunges and unilateral pulls	Traction	Standing press	Pull-ups	Push-ups and bench presses
For beginners and home workouts, as well as the physical training of a long distance runner	With your own body weight	With your own body weight	Australian bar pull-ups and forward bends without weight	Downward dog push-ups, shoulder push-ups from the box	On the bar with compensation of part of the body weight with rubber	Classic from the support or from the floor
Fitness and home workouts	With small equipment (weights, dumbbells, rubber buffers)	With small equipment	Kettlebells, dumbbells, rubber shock absorbers	Kettlebells, dumbbells, rubber shock absorbers	With compensation for part of body weight	From the floor or from the hinges for functional training, with different hand setting
Strength training for fitness or conditioning athletes	With a barbell - classic and frontal. Sometimes - overhead squats	With dumbbells	With boom or small equipment	With boom or small equipment	Classic or weighted	With weights on the back or replacement for the bench press option
GPP sprinter, tactical work, advanced fitness	Dynamic (with a jump) or taking the barbell in the seat	Similar to squats, except for taking	Dynamic - high-speed with rubber or chains	Jerks and half-shocks	Kipping and butterfly	Dynamic speed presses with rubber or chains or jump push-ups

Some exercises that can be difficult:

Australian pull-ups

Row on straight legs with rubber shock absorber

Pull of the shock absorber to the belt in the slope

Standing press with shock absorber

Downward Dog Push-ups

Box Shoulder Pushups

Kipping pull-ups

Dynamic Jump Squats

Butterfly pull-ups

Weighted

Everything presented in the table can be complicated by adding weights. This makes sense if the goal is not to develop, for example, endurance for running, but to strengthen the muscles. The average client of a fitness club will consistently move from the first line to the last. Dynamic resistance work is only practiced when a person decides to compete in CrossFit or has reached a strength plateau and wants to overcome it.

But what is it - functional training, if we have the usual strength progression, as in many other types of fitness? The fact of the matter is that this is a fictional methodological technique for attracting people who are tired of being obsessed with muscle size, the thickness of the fat layer and exercises that isolate small muscles.

With gymnastic equipment

Actually, for fitness purposes there are only horizontal bars and parallel bars. All other gymnastic equipment is not used. Loops for functional training are similar to gymnastics. They allow you to partially change the angles of the load and include different muscle groups in the work.

Cardio load

For fitness purposes, the following are performed:

running at a distance from 200 to 800 m;
burpee;
jumping jacks, skipping with and without a rope;
dynamic lunges, steps;
work in an assault bike and a rowing machine.

Cardio is of an interval nature, light "long, straight" workouts are added as desired and usually no more than 1-2 days a week.

Features of training for weight loss

D. Smirnov, mentioned at the beginning of the article, believes that weight loss training exists. And this is something like circulars with fairly serious weights and multi-joint basic exercises. Cardio is interval. The diet is calorie deficient. All other methodologists believe that such exercises serve to increase strength endurance in sports, and a simple visitor of the gym does not need all this.

In practice, functional training is referred to to "speed up the metabolism." This is a real task, if a person has decent joint mobility, good technique, he is ready not to "crush" weights, as soon as he sits on a calorie deficit, and is able to recover.

In CrossFit, losing weight is advised to get rid of sweets and build a diet based on cereals, meat, eggs, nuts, vegetables and herbs.

Most beginners should do something like a circuit workout of no (or minimal) weights and try to build up amplitude and pace. And, of course, do not forget about the calorie deficit, without which any workout will not be effective.

Do you need any attacks on the bare feet and other exotic versions of movements with medicine balls for weight loss? Actually, no. This is the main claim of all sane humanity to functional club fitness. The layman will take too long to think about how to repeat the exercise in order to do it beautifully and effectively. It is better to make the work easier technically, but do not interrupt it to see again what the instructor is showing there.

Programs for beginners

The editors of Self magazine have prepared the simplest workout for beginners in the world:

Squats.
Lunges.
Push ups.
Twisting.
Plank.

Repeat 3 times, doing each exercise for a minute, and the next day “wonderful” sensations in the whole body are provided. In fact, the complex was invented by Greg Glassman, the "dad" of CrossFit. And it is known as "crossfit exercise", where each movement was done for 50 repetitions. If a beginner cannot complete 50 repetitions, he must start with the number available to himself.

For women

Almost the same, but with an emphasis on the buttocks, it looks like this:

Crunches on the press.

For men

Beginners can do this:

Goblet squat with kettlebell or dumbbells for quadriceps.

Another option:

Contraindications for exercise

Ironically, there are almost none. Even a person with ODE injuries, high blood pressure and overweight can do this kind of fitness. Only he will do 10 shallow squats with rest and push-ups from the wall. The beauty of the system is that it can be adapted to almost any skill level.

However, you should avoid exercising if:

there are contraindications to cardio load from the heart and blood vessels;
have active trauma;
a person is sick with ARVI;
a chronic disease has worsened;
before us is a beginner with a serious violation of posture or curvature of the spine;
joint mobility is limited.

Conclusion

Functional fitness is a marketing “wrapper” for the athlete's physical fitness, simplified to the needs of ordinary people. Before us are the usual strength basic exercises with or without free weights, combined into cycles to increase the athlete's endurance. The emphasis is on developing strength, agility, endurance, mobility, and preventing domestic injuries.