When I was seven months pregnant, my trainer added a new exercise to our sessions to prepare me for the demands of parenthood: One-arm heavy kettlebell carries. These would mimic my soon-to-be daily task of hauling my infant in a car seat. Doing this regularly without pain would require upper body strength, core control and balance, all of which we could train for in the gym.
Functional training, the subject of many popular fitness videos on TikTok and Instagram, is a buzzy term for a simple concept: It’s training to improve the way you move in daily life, said Eric Salvador, a head instructor at Fhitting Room, an exercise studio in New York City.
Many everyday tasks require you to move while carrying weight, even if it’s just your own body. If you haven’t prepared your muscles to handle these movements, you can increase your risk of injury and make recovery more difficult, said Leada Malek, a physical therapist in Oakland, California.
By practicing similar movements with weight, you can build strength, stability and control, and reduce your chances of sustaining an injury while doing simple tasks, said Dr. Malek.
To make functional training work for you, choose the exercises that will help you train for the way your body moves on a daily basis — farmer walks for lugging groceries, loaded carries for hauling your toddler home from the playground — and add one or two to an existing workout. If you’re looking for a higher-intensity workout that hits most major muscle groups, you can also perform all of these movements back-to-back as a stand-alone routine.
Overview
Time: Roughly 5 minutes for all sets of a single exercise. Roughly 45 minutes for the full routine.
Intensity: High