This week we’re looking at functional movement.
Functional movement is crucial for good health and longevity, and it’s neither complicated nor time-consuming. At its core, functional movement is about preparing our bodies to live better.
This week, see if you can include some functional movements into your exercise routine.
Importance
“Functional training is a type of training that focuses on movements that help you function better in your everyday life…. [O]ur bodies were designed to move in different ways categorized into human movement patterns. We’re made to push and pull with our upper body, hinge at the hips, bend into a squat, lunge or step up, and rotate. The purpose of training in each of these movements is to keep muscles functioning as they were designed.” - NASM
We need to learn how to move properly
“Your time in the gym should primarily be spent getting strong and developing clean and functional movement patterns that enhance balance, symmetry, and stability—not building your muscular and cardiovascular endurance or trying to compete for time or points while pushing through soreness and fatigue.” - Ben Greenfield, Beyond Training
Learning how to move properly is more important than getting bigger muscles, leaning down, or hitting a new personal best on your bench press.
While exercise of any sort is good for you, we want our bodies to be able to move well and without pain for a long time. Therefore, we must learn to move how our bodies have evolved to move - by engaging in functional movement on a regular basis.
We need to counteract age-related muscle loss
As we age, we start losing muscle mass. This is a process known as sarcopenia. And unfortunately, this starts happening around the age of 30:
“Beyond the age of 30, we lose approximately six pounds of muscle mass per decade.” - Ben Greenfield
While this muscle loss is inevitable, there are actions we can take to ensure we stay healthy and mobile for a long time to come - with regular functional movement being a key strategy.
It’s good to move our bodies in different ways
My favorite thing about functional movement, and especially things like yoga, is that I move my body through movements it wouldn’t experience otherwise, in a society where we generally sit, stand, or lie down, and not much else.
Furthermore, it’s beneficial to move your joints through their full range of motion on a regular basis. This helps with injury prevention and improves your health in general. Traditional body-building style training, as well as running, cycling, and other repetitive movements can lead to muscular imbalances which can turn into pain and/or injuries.
“[Functional movement] also improves coordination, balance, and body awareness, which will help you avoid unnecessary injuries.” - Self
Functional movement also keeps things interesting and fun:
“Treadmills kill your spirit. There are reasons and times to do treadmills, but if that is your only way of moving your body, you’re selling yourself short.” Jason Nemer, Tools of Titans
Implementation
Functional movement is incredibly diverse.
I will touch on some main movements here, but anything that gets your body moving in a way it was built to move will be beneficial.
Walking
Humans were built to walk, and we are healthiest when we’re taking lots of steps each day (ideally at least 7000)
Functional strength training
Strength is so important, and the metabolic response we get from lifting heavy stuff is so important for longevity.
“Functional” strength training just means building strength in natural movements - think squat, deadlift, pulls, and pushes. Isolated exercises are less functional, since they never really occur naturally. (This is not to say we shouldn’t do isolation exercises - just make sure oyu’re also doing compound movements as well).
The big 5 are good to focus on: Squat, deadlift, bench press, barbell row, overhead press.
My absolute favorite functional movement is the Turkish Get Up, which you can read more about here. This is the optimal functional movement - getting down and up off of the floor while holding something unilaterally above your head
Standing
Avoiding sitting for long periods is crucial for good health. Sitting makes us sick and fat.
Mobility
Mobility training involves making sure your joints are, well, mobile. There are so many ways to work on mobility - I recommend these two YouTube channels: Strength Side and Bodyweight Warrior. Look for their mobility routines.
Grease the groove
This is a concept developed by Pavel Tsatsouline. In simple terms, it’s about doing low volume movements, many times throughout the day. For example, doing 1-5 bodyweight squats for up to 30 sets, spread across the day.
The movements you do will be highly individual - pay attention to how your body responds and do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
My functional movement routine looks like this:
30 minute walk, daily
45 minute daily movement session, consisting of one or a combination of:
Yoga
Mobility, rolling
Strength training - push, pull, legs split
Ice hockey training or game
Hike
Bike ride
Longboarding
Morning yoga session - about 10-15 minutes
Greasing the groove through the day - doing a few lunges and squats whenever I have the opportunity - e.g. while waiting for the kettle to boil
As you can see, this is a highly flexible routine. I always go for a walk, but beyond that what I do depends on how my body is feeling, what I did yesterday or what I’m doing tomorrow, the weather, and just generally what I feel like doing.
Functional movement can be intense - anything from HIIT and strength training to yin yoga and stretching. Adapt it to what works for you and your body.
And remember, you don’t need to focus solely on functional movement. Rather, just aim to incorporate some form of it into your weekly routine - whether with a standing desk, going for walks, or doing some yoga.
Summary
The purpose of functional movement is to keep muscles functioning as they were designed
You can include functional movements into your pre-existing exercise regime
Look to add exercises where you are: Pulling, pushing, squatting, hinging, and rotating
Try to walk as much as possible each day, and stand rather than sit at every opportunity
Resources
If you want to learn more about functional movement, here are some helpful resources:
The Scientifically Proven 7-Minute Workout - This is a great functional movement routine
Podcasts
The School of Greatness with mobility expert, Kelly Starrett. This is a great podcast all about how we should be moving.
Even if you’re not at all interested in gymnastics, this was an incredibly informative podcast with Tim Ferriss and the founder of Gymnastic bodies, Coach Sommer.
Announcement
I have written a concise and actionable guide to sleep, called Habits for Better Sleep. It’s a 75-page ebook on how to implement habits in your day to improve your sleep at night. If you’re looking to achieve more restful sleep, get to sleep more easily, stay asleep for longer, and wake up feeling rested, this book can help you.
It includes simple, actionable advice backed by research to help you improve the quality of your sleep, as well as step-by-step information on how to optimize your morning routine, how to create an evening routine, and everything in between.
It’s at a discounted price for this first week, so I recommend buying it now if you’re interested!
You can find it here, or click on the image below.
Thank you in advance for your support!
I love your newsletter, keep up the great work!