Your Ultimate Guide to Functional Strength Training

What is Functional Fitness Training?

Functional fitness training is a fantastic way to focus on exercises that mimic real-life activities (instead of isolating specific muscle groups). By targeting these daily movements, you build strength that helps your body perform tasks with greater ease as you age, ensuring you stay strong and capable for years to come.

By emphasizing proper mechanics, you can create muscle memory that will be important for your entire life.  Muscle memory is important so you can perform daily activities without thinking about mechanics.  Functional fitness training achieves two very important things for longevity: increased strength and increased coordination.

Functional fitness training achieves two very important things for longevity: increased strength and increased coordination.Share on X

Why is Functional Fitness Training Important?

Functional fitness training is important because you focus on training systems of muscles together to complete daily life movements. Training your body for everyday activities increases your coordination, balance, flexibility, and overall strength.

Your body creates muscle memories from repeated actions. This muscle memory improves both your physical strength and coordination, resulting in fluid motions. Here’s an example of a functional fitness exercise:

Performing a Smart Medicine Ball Squat Press:

1. Bend your knees to squat down
2. Lower your back to bend over
3. Brace your core and straighten your upper body as you pick up the Smart Medicine Ball
4. Extend your knees while pressing the Smart Medicine Ball over your head.

This exercise is like unbagging groceries and putting an item on the top shelf of your pantry.

The squat press focuses on training multiple muscle groups in a single movement. Our daily movement involves multiple movements at one time utilizing many muscle groups.

Rarely do we find ourselves isolating single muscles to complete daily takes. By coordinating these muscle groups in your regular workout routine, you create muscle memory for the motion that will help you perform essential tasks. As we age, this is so vital.

This Holistic Approach is Essential for Long-Term Health.

As we age, especially in women, our muscle tone naturally decreases. To avoid this and for best results, women need to strength train consistently 2-3 times a week. This may seem like a huge commitment, but keep reading we will make it easy!

A great benefit of strength training is it keeps your bones strong! According to the Mayo Clinic, “By stressing your bones, strength training can increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.” I call that a win-win!

By stressing your bones, strength training can increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis. @MayoClinicShare on X

Functional fitness training is a form of strength training!  These exercises focus on proper mechanics to ensure you’re body is moving the way it was designed to!  With an emphasis on exercises that use low weight (like the 6lb and 8lb Smart Medicine Ball) or only your body weight, there is no fear of “being bulky” like a man.  On the flip side, it is possible to build larger muscles by significantly increasing the amount of weight or resistance for each exercise.

But can it relieve stress? YES!

Our bodies are designed to move!  When we exercise our body releases happy chemicals called endorphins.  These natural mood boosters leave us in a better mood and feel more productive. The natural pick me up that we could all use.

How Effective is Functional Fitness Training?

Functional Fitness training can be extremely effective when performed properly and regularly. This training is an effective routine for all fitness abilities, from beginners to experts, even athletes. Our ambassadors routinely team up with us to share insights, exercises, and proper form! Check out this video from Prism Fitness Ambassador, Jen Sherbinow! You can find more videos like these on our social media!

Functional fitness training is effective because it targets multiple muscle movements together.  These movements easily translate to everyday activities, showing results faster than isolated movements, like the ones done on the bulky machines at the gym.

How do I Start Functional Fitness Training Today?

Functional Fitness training is a great option for beginners because you can train at home 2-3 times a week and still see BIG results. Our Smart Self-guided program takes you through a full body workout. Start with 8 reps per exercise and perform 2 -3 rounds.

Although this routine is light impact, please be sure to check with your healthcare provider before beginning any new fitness routines.

What’s the Best Equipment for Functional Fitness Training at Home?

At Prism Fitness we pride ourselves on creating the best equipment on the market. One of our favorites for Functional Fitness Training is the new Smart In Home Gym because it just makes sense.

What Makes it the Best?

At Prism Fitness, we specialize in Functional Fitness Training.  Everything we do is to align with our goal to Make it Smart so you can Make it Happen.

What does Make it Smart mean?

We take a full 360-degree view of how our customers store and use our products.  We keep your health, safety, and life in mind in every product we create.

This 360-degree view brought us to create our new Smart In-Home Gym.

Smart In Home Gym –Storage:

We knew many of our customers were feeling overwhelmed or annoyed by the pile of newly purchased home fitness equipment on the floor. Maybe it’s the stability ball rolling across the living room or the mess of resistance bands under the coffee table.  Our solution is a sleek home gym storage solution with a small footprint that also features all of the most important elements of functional fitness training.

Smart In-Home Gym –Use of Products:

We’ve all done it, haven’t we? We get super excited about a trendy piece of fitness equipment. Then, we use it a few times and the novelty wears off only for it to end up forgotten in the basement or closet, never to be seen again. We don’t want this to be your fitness story!

We have embedded the best exercises directly on our products for easy reference, so you know exactly how to use it.  No more guessing or searching the internet to figure out what to do with it.  Routine problem solved!

The result is we have created the most INNOVATIVE functional fitness training system for your home gym, whether your home gym is your living room, basement, or bedroom!

Our partners love this product.  Here is what they have to say:

“We need to have this for our customers” – Summit Commercial Fitness

“Solid in-home solution; many commercial applications too!” – Prosource Fitness Equipment

“My team is super interested and excited about this new item.” – Precor Commercial Fitness

“Great drop-ship option for our customers.” – Fitter International

“I’d love to get one for our floor.” – Spokane Exercise Equipment

“It looks really neat!” – Nova Fitness Equipment

What are the Benefits of Using Prism Fitness Smart In-Home Gym for Functional Fitness Training?

This Smart In Home Gym is the best option for functional fitness training because we have included ALL THE STAPLES of a functional fitness workout: strength, balance, flexibility, and recovery.

We’ve selected these vital functional fitness training pieces so your home gym can continue your fitness journey for many years. These functional fitness training staples included in the Smart In Home Gym are:

• Strength  = 2 Smart Medicine Balls, 1 Smart Door Anchor & 3 Smart Guard Sleeved Tubing
• Balance = 1 Smart Stability Ball
• Flexibility = One Smart Mat (plus comfort!)
• Recovery =  1 Smart Recovery Foam Roller

Why is strength training an absolute must?

Muscles have a pretty simple motto: use it or lose it.

If you do not consistently strength train, your body will naturally lose muscle mass. Strength is so important in many aspects of our lives, like making the one trip wonder of groceries from the car to the kitchen and being able to play with the kids.

The more muscle is maintained in your body, the easier it is to achieve these everyday activities.  Plus as an added bonus, muscle burns calories, so maintaining a higher muscle mass causes your body to burn more calories at rest (sleeping, sitting, etc.)

Here is an awesome article where we dive even deeper into the benefits of Strength Training: Why Strength Exercise is Important. 

Why do you need good balance?

Balance is used in everything we do, whether we are simply standing and talking to a friend or playing hopscotch with the kids. Good balance is typically the result of a strong core (no you don’t need a visible 6-pack to have a strong core!).

The main benefit of good balance is you don’t have to worry about falling. According to the National Council on Aging, “Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults”.

No matter how old you are, 20-100, working on balance is going to strongly negate the risks of falls.  Remember falling is not a normal part of aging!

Want to learn more about building balance?  Check out this article: Why Balance Training is Important.

Why should you work on flexibility?

Flexibility is extremely important for joint health.  Having a full range of motion allows you to do many common everyday tasks like being able to comfortably sit on the floor and play with the kids or lift your leg over your bike.

Want to learn more about Flexibility? Read our article Why Flexibility Exercise is Important.

Why is recovery so vital?

Recovery is when the magic happens!  Recovery is the time between workouts when your body rebuilds the muscles broken down during exercise.  This rebuilding process is what makes you stronger!

Recovery and rest are just as important as getting in your workout.  If you skip your recovery day, you will be more likely to become injured because your body hasn’t fully healed from the previous workout.

Learn more about how to recover here: Rest and Recovery Sessions are Key to a Successful Fitness Routine 

Workouts to Try at Home

We’ve covered a lot of reasons why functional strength training exercises should be your go-to workout, especially since it will help you move better in daily life and lower the risk of injury. No matter your fitness level, these exercises are key for building solid strength and stability. So, let’s dive into a functional fitness workout to get you started—this is the best way to ease into it safely and effectively!

Warm-Up:

30-45 Seconds each

High Knees, Butt Kickers, Arm Circles, Lat Jacks, Bodyweight Squats

Functional Strength Training Exercises:

Squat Press

1. Start Position:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the medicine ball close to your chest with both hands.
• Keep your chest up and your core engaged. Relax your shoulders.

2. The Squat:

• Push your hips back and lower down into a squat, making sure your knees track over your toes. You should feel your glutes and thighs working.
• Go as deep as you can while keeping your back straight—aim for thighs parallel to the ground or a little lower.

3. The Press:

• As you push through your heels to stand back up, press the ball straight overhead, fully extending your arms.
• Keep your core tight as you press, making sure you don’t arch your lower back.

4. Return:

• Lower the ball back to your chest as you begin your next squat.

3 Sets of 8-12 Reps:

• Set 1: Start with lighter weight or a smaller range of motion if you need to.
• Set 2: As you get more comfortable, go for full depth in the squat and add a little more power in the press.
• Set 3: Aim for consistency in form—keep your movements smooth and controlled.

Key Tips:

• Focus on controlled movement—don’t rush!
• Engage your core the entire time to protect your back.
• Keep your knees out and your chest lifted.

Sleeved Tubing Row 

1. Set Up:

• Find a stable anchor point for your band, like a closed door, pole, or something sturdy.
• Stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart, and hold the ends of the band in each hand. Keep a slight bend in your knees and stand tall with your core engaged.

2. Starting Position:

• With your arms extended in front of you, palms facing each other, take a step back to create tension in the band. You want a good amount of resistance, but it should still feel manageable.
• Keep your shoulders down and back, avoiding any rounding in your upper back.

3. The Row:

• Begin by pulling the band toward your torso, squeezing your shoulder blades together as you pull. Think about driving your elbows straight back, not your hands.
• Keep your elbows close to your body—don’t let them flare out to the sides.
• As you pull, keep your chest open and avoid arching your back. Your core should stay tight to protect your spine.

4. Return:

• Slowly release the band, extending your arms back out in front of you, keeping the tension in the band throughout the movement. Don’t let the band slack too much.
• Control the movement, don’t let it “snap” back.

2 Sets of 8-12 Reps:

• Set 1: Start at a steady pace to really focus on getting the movement right.
• Set 2: Once you’re comfortable, try to increase your pace a little, but still maintain control throughout the entire movement.

Key Tips:

• Form first: Make sure you’re focusing on the squeeze between your shoulder blades. This is key for really activating your back muscles.
• Controlled Movement: Don’t rush the row—this is all about control and feeling the muscle work.
• Breathing: Exhale as you pull the band toward you, and inhale as you return to the starting position.

1. Set Up:

• Attach the band to the door anchor, making sure it’s securely fastened at chest height.
• Stand facing away from the door, holding the handles of the band in each hand. Step forward to create some tension in the band. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart, and your knees should have a slight bend.

2. Starting Position:

• Hold the handles with your elbows bent at about 90 degrees, palms facing forward. Your elbows should be aligned with your shoulders.
• Stand tall with your chest up, shoulders relaxed, and core engaged.

3. The Press:

• Press the handles forward in front of you by extending your arms. Keep your wrists straight and focus on pushing with your chest and triceps.
• As you press, make sure you don’t let your shoulders rise up to your ears—keep everything steady and controlled.

4. Return:

• Slowly bring the handles back toward your chest, keeping tension in the band. Don’t let your elbows drop too far back—keep it controlled and in a comfortable range of motion.
• Be sure to maintain control of the band the entire time.

2 Sets of 8-12 Reps:

• Set 1: Start with a focus on form and feel the muscles working.
• Set 2: Try to push a little more, but keep control to avoid any strain.

This exercise will help build strength in your upper body, especially in the chest, shoulders, and arms.

Key Tips:

• Engage your core throughout to keep your back supported and avoid any arching.
• Slow and steady—don’t rush the movement. Control both the press and the return phase.
• Breathing: Exhale as you press forward, inhale as you return to starting position.

Crunch Using a Prism Smart Stability Ball

1. Set Up:

• Sit on the stability ball with your feet flat on the ground, about shoulder-width apart. Your knees should be at a 90-degree angle.
• Walk your feet forward and slowly roll down the ball until it’s resting on your lower back. Your head and neck should be in a neutral position with your hands lightly behind your head or crossed over your chest (avoid pulling on your neck).

2. Starting Position:

• Keep your core engaged and your back straight.
• Make sure your hips are aligned with your shoulders, and your feet are stable on the ground.

3. The Crunch:

• Using your core, lift your upper body toward the ceiling, curling your torso and bringing your ribcage toward your pelvis.
• Focus on squeezing your abs to lift your chest, not using momentum from your neck or arms.
• Keep the movement slow and controlled—avoid jerking or rushing through the reps.

4. Return:

• Lower your body back down slowly to the starting position, maintaining tension in your core the entire time.

3 Sets of 10-15 Reps:

• Set 1: Start slow, focusing on form and making sure your back stays supported by the ball to alleviate later back pain.
• Set 2: Try to go a bit deeper into the crunch, feeling that squeeze in your abs.
• Set 3: Push yourself for those last few reps, but stay mindful of your form.

Key Tips:

• Engage your core: You should feel your abs working as you crunch, not your neck or back.
• Controlled movement: Don’t let gravity take over—focus on each rep to maximize the burn.
• Breathing: Exhale as you crunch up, inhale as you return to the starting position.

Cooldown:

It’s time to get your heart rate to slow down stretching on the Smart Mat  – The Prism Smart Mat has the exercises printed rig on the mat making it easy to know what exercise to do next.

Recovery:

Smart Foam Recovery Roller is a great way to relax after a workout and to target specific muscle groups that may be sore or overworked.

Rest about 1 minute between sets. Complete all sets before moving on to the next exercise. Remember to listen to your body!  If you need a little more time between sets or exercises, take it!  But don’t skimp on the rest between sets.

Functional strength training is not just about building muscle—it’s about improving your ability to move through daily life with greater ease and strength. By focusing on exercises that mirror the movements we perform every day, this type of training helps you stay strong, reduce the risk of injury, and maintain your independence as you age. Whether you’re looking to feel more energized, enhance your balance, or tackle everyday tasks with confidence, functional strength training can be your key to a healthier, more active life. So, start incorporating these exercises into your routine and experience the lasting benefits for yourself!

Need help setting goals? Check out our fitness journal. Made especially for our subscribers.

Now is the Time: Make Room for the Best You! Fitness Journal

We would love to hear from you. Let us know in the comments or find us on one of our Social Media pages and let us know how your fitness routine is going. Do you need more tips or help on how to use your equipment, then stop by Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and let’s chat.

Disclaimer:

We are fitness experts but we are not your doctor.  We recommend checking with your doctor before starting any new training programs.