How to do Functional Fitness at Home – Part 1 of 2
Emphasizing functional but constantly varied workouts, functional fitness is a serious force in fitness today. While competitive athletes complete grueling and extreme workouts, these workouts are also scalable for all levels and can be implemented in a home gym setting.
Once you have the basics, you can create a good set-up with a fairly minimal investment, adding to your equipment over time to create the best home gym possible.
About the writer: Joli Guenther is a certified personal trainer, yoga instructor and clinical social worker practicing in and around Madison, Wisconsin. Learn more about Joli.
Is Functional Training for you?
If you appreciate variety and a challenge in your workouts, functional fitness will meet your needs. You can choose your daily exercises by downloading an app that will develop daily exercises for you. These workouts can be tailored to include bodyweight workouts, travel friendly workouts, endurance, and more. While you can invest a substantial amount of space and money into creating an enviable home gym,, one of the great beauties of functional training is its adaptability to more limited spaces and budgets. Here are a few tips on selecting the approach and equipment that’s right for you.Choose the right space.
There is a reason that functional fitness is bringing back the garage gym. While you don’t need a lot of space to set up a basic workout area, you want enough room to complete the movements. Ceilings Ideally, the space that you use will have high ceilings in order to allow you to do jumping movements like jumping rope or plyo box jumps, as well as pull up movements. Floor If you are using a concrete floor, add a rubber floor mat to reduce the risk of impact injuries and to keep your equipment in place. Walls You will need some sturdy, durable wall space to be used as a target for ball passes and handstand kick ups. Environment And finally, make sure you’ve got music and airflow. Even scaled workouts are designed to push you to your limit. A good breeze and some driving music will go a long way towards improving your attitude about pushing through a tough workout.
Once you have the basics, you can create a good set-up with a fairly minimal investment, adding to your equipment over time to create the best home gym possible.
About the writer: Joli Guenther is a certified personal trainer, yoga instructor and clinical social worker practicing in and around Madison, Wisconsin. Learn more about Joli.