To coincide with the opening of the NRG Functional Training Room in NRG Health & Fitness Knocknacarra we have some tips on using the space safely and the benefits of functional training!
Before using the functional training area all members must sign a waiver at reception. When using the area make sure to:
- Be careful – Much of the equipment is movable and dynamic so be extra careful of others around you
- Tidy up after yourself – This means returning all equipment to its original place and keeping the area as clutter free as possible.
Below are some major benefits of functional training, strengthing not only our bodies but also our philosophy that functional training can be right for everyone.
Movement Matters; Our bodies are designed to move, not to sit slumped over a computer all day. The less you move, the less blood sugar your body uses.Functional training focuses on training movement patterns rather than isolating individual muscles. If you spend most of your working day sat down in the office, sitting on the chest press machine at the gym is probably counter productive.
Posture; Functional training can help to correct bad posture and muscular imbalances caused by the daily grind, stressful jobs and hectic lifestyles.
Fat Burning; Functional training provides fantastic fat burning workouts, by using full body exercises that improve strength, endurance and boost metabolism, not wasting a minute of your session.
Muscle Tone/Density; It develops strong, lean bodies, look at gymnasts at the Olympics, they are constantly training movement patterns and lifting their own bodyweight, not doing bicep curls or poundng away on the treadmill for hours!
Stability; Every session includes flexibility, mobility, core stability, balance and strength training principles to keep your body constantly challenged in all areas of a strong, healthy and vibrant body.
Sports Specific; Functional training provides essential training for sport specific conditioning. Enhancing the relationship between the nervous and musculoskeletal system, providing quick, reactive, and powerful movement patterns – whether your chosen sport is golf, rugby or MMA.
Core Strength; in functional training every exercise involves core activation, teaching the core to stabilise the spine against external force, throughout an array of differing movement patterns and body positions. Therefore mimicking the demand placed upon the core and spine in our every day tasks and recreational activities. Crunches alone, unfortunately just don’t cut it!