Functional Fitness Exercises
Definition: Functional fitness exercises train your muscles to work together and strengthen them for activities of daily living. This is accomplished by repeating a variety of basic body movements. These movements are designed to briefly and safely "overload" the nuero-muscular-skeletal (nerves, muscles, bones and joints) system while conditioning the cardio-pulmonary-vascular (heart, lungs, and blood vessels) system.
A few of the most basic functional fitness exercises are listed below under their primary category by muscle group. These exercises should be familiar to you from your lab assignment.
Review the list and be sure you're familiar with each term and the body movements involved. You may want to use YouTube to watch a variety of demonstrations for any of the exercises with which you are less familiar. Or, you can participate in another "Free & Fun Fitness Training" and ask a certified OptiHealth Fitness Instructor to demonstrate and explain.
Then, take the quiz at the bottom of the page.
Review the list and be sure you're familiar with each term and the body movements involved. You may want to use YouTube to watch a variety of demonstrations for any of the exercises with which you are less familiar. Or, you can participate in another "Free & Fun Fitness Training" and ask a certified OptiHealth Fitness Instructor to demonstrate and explain.
Then, take the quiz at the bottom of the page.
Walk / Jog
- Continuous movement by walking and/or jogging a variable distance.
Shuttle Run
- Running a very short distance back-and-forth several times.
Interval Sprints
- Running a short distance as fast as possible several times with a brief rest between each sprint.
Leg Exercises
- Squats
- Lunges
- Side Kicks (banded)
- Bridges
Ab Exercises
- Leg-Raises
- Plank
- Sit-Ups
- Side-Crunches
Arm Exercises
- Push-Ups
- Rows
- Arm Curls
- Chest Fly's
- Back Fly's
Full-Body Exercises
- Burpees
- Thrusters
- Elbows-to-Hands
- 1-Arm Snatches