When we talk about fitness, most people picture muscles, low percentage of body fat, heavy weights and grunting. But how useful is that strength when it comes to real life—lifting groceries, chasing after your kids, or climbing stairs? Enter functional fitness: the type of training that keeps your body primed for everyday life.
What exactly is functional fitness (and why should you care)?
Functional fitness is about training your body to handle daily movements better—things like squatting, lifting, pushing, pulling, and twisting. Its practical fitness designed to keep you agile, strong, and injury-free during day-to-day activities. On that note, watch the video if you want an easy-to-follow routine for spine mobility.
This doesn’t mean that all gym activities aren’t applicable or that the sole focus of a workout is on ‘function’. However, any training session should contain consideration of not just how this will make a client look, but also how it will make them feel – short and long-term.
Why should you care about this? Simple. Functional fitness:
- prevents injuries by prepping your muscles for real-world scenarios
- makes everyday tasks feel easier and less tiring
- keeps you active, mobile, and independent for years to come.
How fit are you (really)?
Various newspapers or BBC documentaries will draw the public attention to things such as grip strength or your heart-related age, but here are 3 uncomplicated quick tests to gauge your functional fitness:
- Sit-to-stand challenge: can you stand up and sit down repeatedly from a chair for 30 seconds? The higher the number, the better your lower-body strength.
- Single-leg balance test: try balancing on one foot with your eyes open, then closed. Aim for 30 seconds or more—this reveals your balance and stability.
- Push-up or modified push-up test: how many push-ups (or knees-down push-ups) can you do in a minute? This checks your upper body and core strength.
Now, most followers or clients reading this will see this as simple, well the first and the third at least. This does show and often over-looked fact, all my clients are unique in their health and fitness compared to the broader population. You are fitter and healthier than the average. In fact, fitter and healthier than most. But we can always improve.
Simple exercises to boost your functional fitness
You don’t need a fancy gym to get functionally fit. Here are some simple yet powerful exercises:
- Balance: single-leg stands or heel-to-toe walks. Aim for 30-60 seconds at a time.
- Coordination: farmer’s walks (carrying dumbbells or shopping bags) and ladder drills. Great for grip strength and overall body control.
- Strength: bodyweight squats, lunges, and push-ups. These basic exercises strengthen multiple muscles simultaneously—exactly like real-life movements.
If you’re not sure how to apply these exercises into an effective routine that you’ll stick with, visit a previous blog post on creating sustainable habits.
Real-life benefits of functional training
Functional fitness isn’t just exercise for exercise’s sake—it directly improves your daily life. Activities such as lifting shopping or picking up your kids become safer and easier, while household tasks like cleaning, gardening, and DIY chores feel significantly less strenuous. Regular functional training strengthens your core and back muscles, helping you avoid common aches and pains associated with poor posture or repetitive activities. Perhaps most importantly, especially as you age, maintaining good functional fitness helps preserve independence, allowing you to enjoy a higher quality of life.
Even if this blog post doesn’t directly impact you, it should be a reminder. You’ll have a loved one, a friend, a family member who isn’t doing the basics. They too can benefit from this post. Send it on. All journeys don’t need to begin on a treadmill or an extreme diet. They can begin with simply sitting up from a chair. But irrespective, the end goal for everyone is to have a healthy existence throughout their life. A point not to be forgotten.
