Sports-And-Fitness

Functional strength training

Synonyms in the broadest sense

Age-oriented strength training
Health training
Age sport
health-oriented fitness training

introduction

The steady growth of the elderly population and scientific studies mean that the importance of sport in old age is increasingly moving into the focus of sport science. The steadily growing demand and the interest of the future older generation in countless sports offers is already proving to be a lucrative market of the future. Many fitness studios have already reacted in the area of personal training and switched their concepts from pure strength training to functional, age-oriented strength training in the area of prevention and rehabilitation. More and more back schools and numerous concepts for special strength training with functional backgrounds are emerging. However, not all established methods prove to be useful.

definition

Under a functional strength training all aspects of the Strength training summarized, whose adaptation symptoms aim at coping with a wide variety of everyday situations.

target group

The target group of functional strength training are predominantly older people. For younger athletes, is it primarily the pure one Muscle building, which promotes motivation for strength training, strength training becomes more and more common with increasing age functional aspects considered.

Furthermore, strength training is used in rehabilitation, which enables the athlete to participate in everyday life. Here, too, strength training stands in one functional Context.

aims

As from the target group apparent, the individual goals of functional strength training can be of various kinds. In preventive sports for older people, the focus is on the development of the supporting and holding muscles. These include above all Abdominal muscles and Back muscles, such as Glutes and front Thigh muscles. By means of adequate strength training with the appropriate methods, an attempt is made to stress the muscles of the person so that everyday movements can be carried out without any problems into old age.

Adjustment phenomena

Targeted functional strength training achieves a number of positive effects on the body. The most important are.

Improvement of the cardiovascular system
Lowering blood pressure
Prevention of atherosclerosis
Prevention of osteoporosis
Burning body fat
Muscle growth
Stabilization of the joints
Improving mental well-being

and since the latest investigations:

positive effects on mental abilities

important:
Pain and injury to the Musculature are often quickly recognizable and usually only last for a short time (sore muscles). The muscles can regenerate more quickly and injuries to the muscles tend to come suddenly in most cases. The situation is different with problems in the area of the tissue surrounding the muscle. The injuries to the joint apparatus etc. usually arise over a very long period of time and creeping, thus hardly recognizable. The regeneration also takes much longer. Many sports providers and health concepts ignore this phenomenon and focus only on the positive effects of building muscle to solve problems in the joints.

What should you watch out for in functional strength training?

At a functional strength training Exercise forms are always used that stress several muscle groups at the same time. As a result, greater success is achieved with less training effort. It also promotes inter-muscular coordination (the interaction of several muscle groups). An exercise like that Calf lifter therefore no meaningful exercise for functional strength training.

The exercises should always be viewed in relation to everyday movement. Example: The front thigh muscle takes on the function of stretching in the knee joint and flexing in the hip joint. In everyday life, however, the muscle is required for flexion in the hip joint. Therefore, the muscle must be trained with exercises that require flexion in the hip joint. These are, for example, leg presses and squats. The leg extension is not suitable. In functional strength training, between Action- and Fixation muscles distinguished. Fixation muscles are muscle groups that have a predominantly holding, static task. These muscles primarily include the straight abdominal muscles and deep, long back muscles. You should therefore also be statically (holding) stressed in strength training.

The greatest dangers in strength training are from stress damage Bandage- and Support fabric (Bones, ligaments, tendons, joints, cartilage) out. Functional strength training is therefore always supportive and gentle on connective tissue. That means no high and fast loads and no excessive hyperextension movements.

Methods

At a functional strength training the priority is "gentle methods“

Why these gentle methods?

Strength training with intensities from 70-80% has negative effects on the cardiovascular system. The blood supply to the muscles is reduced and the blood pressure rises. Of the Heart muscle needs more oxygen. Shortly before the muscles are exhausted, the blood pressure is high. From a metabolic point of view (metabolism) Muscle-exhausting stress activates the anaerobic metabolism and provoke high lactate levels. This has a negative effect on muscle elasticity, joint metabolism and the immune system. High levels of stress during training also lead to the risk of muscle injury and a loss of motivation due to unpleasant feelings.

Note:

You should plan between 40 to 45 minutes for a training session. With optimal warming and a corresponding warm-up program, the training quota is 60 minutes per training unit with a training scope of 2 to 3 times a week.

Only the most important exercises are integrated into a training unit so that maximum success is achieved with minimum effort. On each device, between 15 and 18 repetitions are performed at low to maximum movement speed. Except for the fixation muscles. At least 2 to 3 sentences should be completed per device. The pause between the sets of 45 seconds to one minute is sufficient.

Exercises

Lat pull
Bench press
Biceps curl
Abdominal crunch static
Lying hyperextension static
Leg press
Iliopsoa training

E.g. training plan

The training schedule below is an example of how training can be planned over the course of the week. It is just a help. Even experienced top athletes are not dogmatists who strictly follow a training plan. The endurance training should be tailored to the individual sport.

1 week