Issue Date: April 10, 2005
"Real-life" exercise
Functional training beats machines for building coordination and balance.
Workouts are not all created equal. Using machines at the gym is great, but the latest locker-room news is that "functional training" gives more bang for your gym membership buck.
Working out in an unstable environment -- say, lifting weights while balancing on one leg instead of sitting on a bench -- better prepares you to wrangle a wiggly toddler.
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Functional training -- using real-life movement patterns and a less stable environment -- is being used to train everyone from Olympic athletes to physical therapy patients. Creating the least stable environment you can still control safely, instead of using a stabilized machine to isolate a muscle, improves muscle strength, coordination and balance.
That means you're less likely to feel a twinge in your knee or shooting back pain as you pick up your wiggly toddler, and you'll burn more calories because you're engaging additional muscles.
"When you train to increase functionality, you utilize your body and your core to support yourself," says Chere Schoffstall, of the National Academy of Sports Medicine. "Ultimately, that means injury prevention and more calories burned."
Minor changes will transform your routine into a more efficient, functional workout. A couple of ideas to get started:
Retire the biceps curl machine. Instead, grab dumbbells and balance on one leg while completing curls.
End a standing lunge with a dumbbell shoulder press to challenge multiple muscle groups.
Check out the super-move below to work the hamstrings, quads, glutes, obliques, lower back and shoulders all in one.
Contact Contributing Editor Jorge Cruise, author of the new book "The 3-Hour Diet," at JorgeCruise.com.
Medicine Ball Chop
A. Holding a light medicine ball at chest level, plant feet hip distance apart, knees and toes straight ahead. Pull abdominal muscles in to support lower back.
B. Inhale and squat, moving ball to outside of left knee.
C. Exhale and push through heels to rise from squat, simultaneously lifting ball over right shoulder in reverse chopping motion.
Return to squat position. Complete 5 repetitions, then switch to start ball by right knee and complete 5 more reps. Ten repetitions complete one set. As the move becomes easier, use a heavier ball or do more sets.
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