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By Dr. Chris Feil, Team Chiropractic and Rehabilitation of Ames It has always puzzled me why when we sit at work all day, why people want to go to the gym and sit more while they work out? The concept of functional exercise has turned that idea of static isolated exercise upside down! Functional Exercises principles focus on building a body capable of doing real-life activities in real-life positions, not just lifting a certain amount of weight in a static posture created by a gym machine. Functional exercises tend to be multi-joint and multi-muscle exercises, or what we call compound movements. Instead of only moving the elbows, for example, a functional exercise might involve the elbows, shoulders, spine, hips, knees and ankles. Not only is functional exercise fun, because you are up moving around, you also get the benefit of exercising at higher intensities because you are using all the muscles in your body during the whole workout. The more muscles you use, the more calories you burn! Also, by performing exercises like kettelbells and kickboxing that use several muscles groups, you start to train the neglected areas of your body, without even thinking about it. Neglected areas, like your middle back, hips, abdominals, and even your feet. When these areas are strong, they help prevent injuries and make exercise and your everyday activities easer. Where did the Traditional American Gyms Go Wrong? Today traditional American gym workouts often focus on isolating and challenging one specific muscle. Usually, one movement of a joint is preformed in a controlled range of motion, while the rest of your body’s muscles remain static and dormant. This mindset comes from the body building culture. When Arnold Schwarzenegger needed to tone each individual muscle, he and his friends devised sets of specific exercise to make their muscles "bulge" when he flexed on stage or in the movies. There are several problems with that approach; traditionally bodybuilding overdevelops certain muscles, like the chest muscles, biceps and quads. When these muscle groups become too strong and out of balance with the rest of our bodies, they pull our posture out of alignment and put increased about of stress on our joints like shoulders, knees and the lower back. Because functional exercise aims to perform exercises that are dynamic and balanced, you don’t worry about creating imbalances after the initial phase of training. Another big problem with the traditional isolation approach is it de-trains muscles form working together. This concepts of muscle coordination is important in everyday life, when you bend over to lift something, your brain sends signals to thousands of different muscles fibers to produce that movement. The key to functional exercise is about teaching all the muscles to work together rather than isolating them to work independently. In functional fitness, most of the time, you should be standing on your own two feet and supporting your own weight when you lift or execute a movement, just like real life. Are You Ready for a Functional Exercise Program? Jumping into functional exercise may startle some people used to working on machines or only running in a straight line on a treadmill for years: It's a lot harder! Not only does functional exercise work your muscles, it works your brain. It’s important to start slowly and focus on form. Receiving proper coaching and instruction is paramount to getting the most out of your workout and staying injury free. Coaching helps people understand how to use correct form (body positioning) when performing a functional exercise program. Form always comes before fatigue in a functional exercise program. I also recommend starting with little to no weight, once you can control and balance your own body weight, then you can start working with added weights. In specific instances, when someone may have a preexisting injury or continues to suffer from injury setbacks, consultation from a healthcare provider who is well educated in functional exercise may be needed. As a chiropractor and rehabilitation specialist, I always try to incorporate functional exercises into my patient’s treatment programs. Patients enjoy the functional approach, because they can see the direct improvement in their ability to perform the motions and activities that caused them the pain to begin with. They also tend to "get better" faster too. It’s empowering to help relieve a patient’s pain, but even more so to know a patient walks out my door with the strength and understanding to prevent their injury from reoccurring.
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This blogs prupose is to be an extension of Team Chiropractic and Rehabilitation of Ames’ missions and passions. We want to be part of your health care team, teams are always more successful then individuals at accomplishing a goal and making sustainable change. On this blog we will breakdown all the parts of the human body and discuss the anatomy and how it relates to common injuries, degeneration, and function. We hope to touch on various other health topics that affect athletes and the members of the local community. The goal of Team Chiropractic and Rehabilitation of Ames is for you to “come see us first”. We want to be your go to healthcare providers when you have a musculoskeletal injury. Meaning, if you injure your back, pull a muscle in your shoulder, or sprain a ligament in your foot, come to us first because we can provide you with more: more treatment options/techniques, more of an education and understanding, more exercises to help you heal and prevent further injury, more up-to-date screening and diagnosis, more speedy healing rates, more providers that care about you and not just your wallet, and last but not least more bad jokes. We hope you frequent this blog and use it as a reference. If you ever have questions about the information we post, stop by the office and chat or shoot us an email. Keep it Functional Ames!
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June 2024
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