Article by Christian Montoya. Strength & Conditioning Coach.
What is a functional move in Fitness?
Functional move is the way human move that simple.
There are 7 ways human move: We Pull, Push, Squat, Lunge, Hinge, twist (rotation) and gait(walk).
Based on this concept trainers build up Fitness Programs. This is called Functional Training.
Strength & Conditioning is the foundation of every sport and specific training.
Is focus in first place to prevent injuries and improving the quality of movement while building the athlete through all fitness components and mind set.
In the other hand, CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen created by Greg Glassman that uses strength & conditioning fitness principles and also can use different sports like running, swimming, cycling etc.
CrossFit have great workouts but is important to understand that certain movements in CrossFit like handstand or doing muscle up for example is useless for the average people.
Imagine yourself going shopping doing walking handstand instead of going walking with your legs. For sure you don't do this. In this case practicing a handstand will not help you to develop the right pattern and strength for your need that is walk with your legs (gait a functional move) then you need to practice walking with your legs and strength your legs.
In the other side if you do gymnastics ,crossfit, capoeira or other specific sport that demands a handstand then you practice those movements as part of the sport.
Other example can be, training super heavy powerlifting, is totally useless (if you are not a high performance athlete with a purpose.)
Here is the catch, powerlifting is great even if you are not a powerlifter but carrying a lot of weight will put the person in a high risk of damaging knees, spine and cause other injuries like bulge disc. In this case your workout will need only enough weight to develop strength safely following the concept of overloading in a periodization program.
Strength Coaches build up a fitness strength program for the average people (not professional athletes) based in quality of movement, improve your posture, avoid injuries and developing strength rather than lifting super heavy. The scenario change when a Strength Coach work with high performance professionals where heavy lifting and high performance movements is add to the fitness programming with a purpose.
Strength & Condtioning Coach :
Christian Montoya
Instagram : heartout_fitness
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