Well the short answer is it means doing physical exercises that have functional uses outside of the gym. The goal of a functional fitness program is to mimic life movement patterns in the gym and build strength in those areas. This type of exercising doesn’t prioritize isolating certain muscles in a workout. For example if you pick up a toddler that’s in front of you on your left side and lift them to your right hip - what muscles are you using? You're using many muscles, your back, arms, hips, shoulders, legs, etc. So we don’t think in terms of targeting specific muscles, we instead think in terms of movements and become efficient in those movements. The good news is your muscles will get stronger and you’ll have a lean strong build, but more importantly you’ll have a strong, resilient body that is highly capable and functional to do all the things. Another benefit to this type of training is the variety of exercises. Many years ago when I was first getting started in working out, I started with a standard bodybuilding routine: doing one or two body parts a day, after a while I got bored with it, it was always the same workout every week, also there was many holes in my fitness, my cardiovascular health wasn’t good, I didn’t have a strong core, in general while my biceps may have looked pretty good, I didn’t have the capability that I wanted. Lastly, when we think about functional training, it’s really about the long term. As we get older we’re going to lose the ability to do many things if we don’t work those movements. Remember people don’t go to retirement homes because they're sick (that’s what hospitals are for) they go because they lose functionality, they can no longer get off the ground, put stuff away, get off the toilet, in general they need help. Our goal is to thrive for as long as possible doing the normal things required for our day to day and also be able to do the fun things we enjoy for decades to come.
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