Why Functional Exercise is a Must for Every Human Bean! Debbie Doo

Approx 2 min read, if you’re not distracted by Facebook or Instagram notifications. 😆

So, what exactly is functional exercise anyway? I mean before I studied fitness in 2019 I had never heard of the term, functional exercise? On my first day on campus, I asked my teacher, all wide eyed, sparkly and ready to learn. He looked at me with the sort of smile that said. ‘You have no idea what you’ve signed up for, do you? And yes, he was pretty darn right. So back to the question. What is functional exercise? The definition is:

But first, I have included my world wide fitness song, Let’s Star Jump. Written to promote full body gross motor movement, follow along with your child and enjoy a great micro workout too! Enjoy! ⭐Read on…

Functional exercise is a classification of exercise which involves training the body for the activities performed in daily life.

Functional training has its origins in rehabilitation, but the benefits of it as a form of prevention and extension of independence is now gaining speed. An example of functional exercise is exercises that mimic the movements of everyday life. An super important functional exercise is getting out of a chair into a standing position. This process engages the use of the muscles of the quadriceps group such as the rectus femoris. Keeping these muscles strong as we age is crucial, especially if we want to be able to leap out of our chair at the drop of a hat. So how do we train our main muscles used for sitting, standing and walking? Well The answer is…. drum roll please, squats. Yep, squats. Now if you are like me and you do not particularly like unassisted squats then you can do assisted ones on a stability ball. This takes the load off our synovial joints while strengthening important muscles that are involved in keeping us upright.

Fitness proffessionals recommend implementing functional exercises into our daily routines in order to keep our muscles strong and activated well into the future. Here are 3 simple, low impact exercises that I do to keep me strong and balanced.

Assisted Squats using a stability ball. I usually do 15 assisted squats with a 2-minute rest in between. Make sure you don’t lose contact with the ball.

Storks Pose for 10 seconds on each leg. Storks pose aids with balance and coordination and helps to prevent future falls.

Farmers Walk I use a 5 kg kettlebell in each hand. I then draw my shoulders back and down while keeping my chest elevated and my core engaged. I walk around for about 2 minutes. This functional exercise mimics carrying shopping bags and young children.

So that is it. Of course, this is only a microblog, so if you want to learn more about functional exercise, Google will have all the answers. I hope that I have at least planted the seed of awareness and motivated you to do something good and important for your long term health and fitness. You’ll also be a great role model for your little one/s.

Please don’t forget to subscribe to our mailing list for more free resources and to visit my YouTube Channel, Debbie Doo Kids TV. You can also follow and stream Debbie Doo on Spotify. I have included my dance playlist below, designed to get the whole family moving! Debbie Doo⭐