Have you taken a look at the weight room in any of the newer “big box” health clubs lately? What you will likely see is way less square footage devoted to heavy weight machines of the selectorized or plate load types. More and more of the weight room floor space is now being occupied by functional training equipment.
Fitness trainers are finding that the use of body weight, gravity and an array of tools such as suspension straps, bands and battle ropes can provide more results for clients. This modern method of training is known as functional training. Functional exercise is a more practical fitness method because it uses movements and tools that are more relevant to daily life.
I often tell clients that all I need when I travel for my fitness is a band and gravity. People can experience an awesome total body resistance workout anywhere with just a band, their body weight and gravity.
Trainers are creating new ways to workout through the use of functional training tools. The options for workouts are limitless.
For example, we recently introduced a new infrared workout that we call Hot Bands. Hot Bands has taken functional exercise to a brand new level. I find that I generally burn 30% more calories with Hot Bands as opposed to Hot Yoga with the same amount of workout time. The combination of slow dynamic reps with isometric holds certainly delivers a great resistance workout, not to mention a great cardio workout as well. The HOTWORX Hot Bands workout is a full body band workout in 30 minutes at 125 degrees of infrared sauna heat.
Functional exercise equipment allows for better use of health club space. There are unlimited combinations of exercise that can be created from a well equipped functional training area.
In light of this movement towards functional fitness training, one could argue that the days of weight rooms filled with endless rows of weight machines that perform only one or two movement functions per machine may be numbered.
