The 5 Best Stretches for People Who Work in an Office
This article is written by Anne Denning.
Have you wondered why some people go slow or move with pain, which affects their daily chores and even work? Well, this is because some people have instability and malfunction in their movements and mobility.
If this happens to you, you need to enhance your moves to accomplish your fitness goals. This will make you efficient and able to satisfy the demands and work of everyday life. Here are some details of what functional and mobility skills can do for you to live a quality life.
What is Functional Fitness Training and Mobility Fitness Training?
Let me start by restating the statement of Eric Salvador, a qualified personal trainer in the Fitting Room in New York City, USA. He said that function refers to purpose, so functional training may be defined as training that has a function. This may as well relate to movement patterns that possess a purpose.
In other words, functional fitness training involves exercises and movements that train the body to cope with the daily activities of life. It is practiced by causing your muscles to function together and using movements that you do at work, at home or in sports.
One example of functional exercise is a squat, which trains the muscle to pick up objects at a low position and to rise up and down from a chair. You could do the functional fitness exercises at the gym or home when you work out.
Likewise, to remind and monitor your movement throughout the day or during your workout, you could use the health and fitness tracker of the Apple Watch, which is perfect during workouts because of the iWatch waterproofcase band.
Mobility fitness training is a way to enhance your range of motion or mobility, including stabilization through exercises, sports, daily activities or controlling your muscles. Mobility involves strength and flexibility, which is required to make you jump higher, push harder and much more.
Sometimes, people tend to spend more time in static situations such as sitting in front of a laptop, TV, or telephone. This may induce a lack of range of movement, which may induce pain in our joints and bodies. Hence, with mobility fitness training, your muscles will have adequate activation that can make you fit and improve your range of motion.
Why is Functional and Mobility Training Important?
Functional and mobility training are important for your daily tasks and actions. The following are some points and benefits why these skills are important.
- Prevent the risk of injury. Inadequate stability and mobility can lead to injuries. On the other hand, 15 minutes of mobility exercises or warm-up each day can prevent an injury, such as a slipped disc or torn rotator cuff, among others.
- Enhance the body’s range-of-motion. Doing mobility exercises regularly can improve your range-of-motion that develops looser hips and more flexible hamstrings.
- Get you moving faster. Achieving optimal movement and mobility can contribute to more upright attitudes that make you effective in your movements and lifts and make you go faster.
- Strengthen the muscles. Functional training or exercises that mimic the movements used in biking or other activities can strengthen the muscles of the body, which is needed to perform daily tasks.
- Enhance agility of the seniors. Functional exercises appropriate for seniors can improve their agility, balance, and muscle strength. This may decrease the danger of falls, which is unsafe for the health of the elderly.
- Make daily activities easier. The functional exercises can make you move your shoulders, hips, back, elbows, ankles, and knees that can create the components of your body move together. This may contribute to body strength that can make your everyday activities more comfortable.
13 Ways to Enhance Functional and Mobility Skills
Having optimal functional and mobility skills is easy to accomplish. The following are some tips to improve your function and mobility skills.
Functional Skills
- Know your functional fitness goals. Make sure that functional training involves exercises that train endurance, strength, power, flexibility, coordination, and balance.
- Set aside time to allow your body to adjust to new functional exercises or movements. This implies you have to gradually increase your strength.
- Do not get into functional movements that can put you at risk of injury. Evaluate the capacity of your body’s components. Know your level of fitness and health.
- Do functional exercise that mimics your desired activity or things that you practice every day. Simulate the movements so you can perform your actual actions better.
- Make sure that your functional exercises involve movements on several planes. They must also include eccentric, isometric, and concentric muscle contractions.
- Make use of resistance bands and free weights rather than machines.
- Have a fitness professional that will guide you and assure you that your training is safe and effective for you.
Mobility Skills
- Do mobility warm-up exercises, such as ankle mobility, walking hip openers, thoracic spine windmills on the floor, neck half-circles, and shoulder pass through, among others every day. These will make your muscles strong and flexible.
- Apply the three components of mobility warm-up, such as the controlled dynamic stretches, bodyweight movements like the lunge or squat, and myofascial work, such as ball rolling or foam rolling.
- Match the warmup with the workout. This will make your muscles in the brain activate. Also, it will cement proper joint alignment.
- Combine some functional movements into your workouts. Try rowing for enhancing your upper-body range-of-motion or cardio for swimming. Also, try doing duck walks or bear crawls to increase your strength.
- Do some warmup routines for your troublesome areas. These include the hamstrings and tight shoulders, among others.
- Talk to some fitness professionals and ask for advice before you begin any mobility exercises.
The Bottom Line
Functional and mobility training help your body to function properly and efficiently as one unit. The various components of your body work together as a whole. These skills enhance body awareness, balance, and coordination that prevent the risk of injuries. Besides, they make your body strong and accomplish your fitness goals.
Author bio: Anne is a Content Manager for the website of BandGet, which is a site that recommends and provides the latest and useful watch bands in the marketplace today. Besides, the website also presents tips and info about different sorts of watches and watch straps.
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