Functional Training: Equipment and Exercises

Functional training is all about doing exercises that are meant to keep you functioning at your best. You are not focused on gaining muscle mass or losing inches, you are focused on being the best you that you can be. That is why functional training is becoming more popular with those who are working out.

Functional Training Equipment You Need

For those who are looking to get into functional training, they are going to find that there are several different pieces of training equipment that you will need to make this work. Here is a sample list of what many people have found works for them:

• Training slam ball
• Battle ropes
• Balance trainer
• Rowing machine
• Suspension trainer
• Vibrating roller
• Resistance bands
• Pull up bar
• Dumbbell set
• Plyometric box
• Steel parallettes
• Cross speed rope

5 Functional Training Exercises

There are several functional training exercises out there that you can do with or without equipment. Here are five to get you started!

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1. Pull ups

These are going to be much easier if you have a pull up bar that you can attach to a door frame. Remember to keep your form and go for a smooth movement. You will want to aim to as many of these that you can. However, don’t be surprised if you can only do about 3 or 4 of these before you start to feel like your muscles are burning.

2. Squats

These are something that you can do without equipment and that is going to give you a total body workout. You will find that those who are just starting may not be able to do as many as they had hoped, because squats are really going to burn your muscles as they use your body weight. Try to perform 3 reps of 10 movements in each rep.

3. Jump squat

You can add in some difficulty to these by jumping onto a box and then squatting on the box. Try to do these in sets of 3 that consist of 10 movements each.

4. Dumbbell Reverse Lunge with Rotation

With the dumbbells in hand, step back and down, twist the side, go back into lunge position and then back to standing. Try to do 10 reps of these and 3 to 5 sets with a 60 second rest in between each set.

5. Stability Ball Plank

With the stability ball, place our elbows and lower arm on this, and then get into plank position. Try to hold this for 60 seconds and do this for 3 sets.