The Importance of Functional Exercises
Those exercises that you can do at home, the ones with the bands that sometimes look silly… Those exercises that are on the generic sheet that the physical therapist gave you… Those exercises that seem easy and boring sometimes… THOSE are the exercises that allow you
to be strong enough to perform the exercises that you truly love to do. The “silly” exercises that the therapist (if you have ever been to a physical therapist) are the very foundation to your bodybuilding training. For all of you who have never had to go to physical therapy this is also important for you because these foundational exercises will prevent you from getting to the point where you would ever need to be in physical therapy.
Functional exercises can be considered exercises that focus on the smaller muscles or exercises that serve the purpose of imitate movements in everyday life. For example, an external shoulder rotation exercise with a band or dumbbell is obviously quite different from a dumbbell or barbell shoulder press. The external rotation is a function exercise and targets the rotator cuff muscles and small muscle of the shoulder, whereas the shoulder press movement is targeting the shoulder muscles in a more general sense. It is also important to note the different in intensity of the two exercises. The shoulder press can obviously be performed with a greater amount of weight than that of the external rotation. The external rotation is only one simple example of a functional exercise for the shoulder. There are a wide variety of different types of internal and external rotations as well as many, many other exercises. Specific exercises that target muscles that act on the scapula such as the rhomboids are also important to include. I use the shoulder as an example because it is probably the most effected by such exercises, that is, it can reap the most benefits from this discussion. However, I will present a few examples pertaining to other body parts.
The shoulder is a very complex joint and is rather many joints all combined into one complex listing, the shoulder. Because there are several bones present as well as many different planes of movement for the shoulder, this means there are a wide variety of muscles to produce such movements. With many muscles at one joint it is easy for some to be neglected and for some to dominate over others. An example of what can happen if functional exercises are neglected is this. Consider an overly strong pectoralis major and weak lats as well as weak mid traps and weak rhomboids. This can actually cause the shoulder
capsule as a whole to be pulled anteriorly, thus, affecting the entire position of the upper body. With altered posture of the upper body the rest of the body can then be affected. Therefore, it would benefit one to include exercises that worked all of the smaller muscles in the back to ensure strength in the upper back and shoulders to combat powerful pec muscles.
By working on developing strength with functional exercises, you can isolate muscles that need improvement for physique development but also for the overall stability of joints. Functional exercises can also be considered movements that would occur in everyday life. Therefore, while some functional exercises target smaller muscles, like those in the shoulder, they can also be bigger movements like the deadlift, which may imitate picking up an object from the ground. However, one is no more important than the other. Functional exercises make strength that is acquired in the gym applicable to everyday life and is most important for injury prevention.
Sources and Photo Credits
http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/anatomy/shouldersanatomy1.htm
http://stronglifts.com/how-to-deadlift-with-proper-technique/
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