Firmen Sowers - La Jolla Trainer

Functional Training

Functional training has its origins in rehabilitation. Physical therapists developed exercises that mimicked what patients did at home or work in order to return to their lives or jobs after an injury or surgery. Thus if a patient's job required repeatedly heavy lifting, rehabilitation would be targeted towards heavy lifting, if the patient were a parent of young children, it would be targeted towards moderate lifting and endurance, and if the patient were a marathon runner, training would be targeted towards re-building endurance.

Functional training involves mainly weight bearing activities targeted at core muscles of the abdomen and lower back. Functional training attempts to adapt or develop exercises which allow individuals to perform the activities of daily life more easily and without injuries.