Workout of The Week Month 11

Welcome to Month 11 of the Workout of the Week series! For our second to last month, we will be focusing on Functional Fitness! Since all of our months have varied greatly, we programmed a large variety of exercises to accommodate the themes we used. While we generally used functional exercises whenever we could, there were occasions when more aesthetic-based exercises took precedence. However, this month, we will be programming exercises that are 100% functional in nature. Our goal for this month is to make you function as optimally as possible.

Functional fitness is a term that’s often thrown around a lot, but most of the time it is without merit. We define functional fitness as performing biomechanically sound exercises that will directly translate to improved performance and function in everyday tasks. This month, we our goal is not to get you 6-pack abs, bigger biceps, or big traps. Our goal is to optimize your movements. We want to train in ways that will help you improve the way you walk, run, sit, stand, and breathe.

In order to accomplish this, each workout will start with two mobility movements, designed to prime your muscles for movement. Each mobility movement is strategically designed to get your body ready for the movement patterns ahead, and “wake” those muscles up. After mobility, we break things down into upper and lower body (weeks 1&3) and cardio and lower body (2&4). We are emphasizing lower body every week because, like we said, we want to optimize your movement!

Some other terminology to consider for this month: tempo, :30/:30 row, and 3-2-1 air squats. Any exercise labeled as “tempo” means that you should perform it much slower than you normally would. The :30/:30 row sprints are a setting on the row machines. To get there, go to Menu—Select Workout – Custom List -- :30/:30r. 3-2-1 air squats refer to the tempo of the air squats. This means you should go 3 seconds on the way down, 2 seconds at the bottom, and one second on the way up.

Some of these movements are a little non-conventional, so as always, ASK someone if you are unsure of what to do. Happy lifting and good luck!