Exercises vs Functional Movements

Transcript

all right welcome back everyone dr ben not a real doctor here and today let's talk about the difference between exercises and functional movements so i don't know a while back i did a video talking about how pull-ups aren't functional movements and some of the comments i've gotten on that makes me feel like i probably didn't explain that concept as well as i should have now before we get into this whole thing just before anybody gets super pissed off about this just remember i do not have the final say on what a functional movement is and what a functional movement isn't this is just my opinion my professional opinion based on my experience and research so there are lots of ways to look at this but comparing exercises and functional movements i feel like there's a very clear distinction between the two and the big thing is that exercises focus on training muscles whereas movements focus on training neurology you're improving the movement so take for example something like a sit-up well you could make the case that this is a functional movement because it is getting your torso up off the ground the general purpose of a sit-up is actually to train your abdominal muscles there's not a whole lot of thought of the application of a sit-up doing sit-ups is getting better at doing sit-ups doing more sit-ups and basically building strength or endurance or size in your abdominal muscles whereas something like a get up is while functionally similar to a sit-up the purpose is getting up off the ground so once you get to a certain point with a get up you're going to add intensity or you're going to add complexity to continue to train the movement to make that movement more applicable to more situations and in the case of like a pull-up so one of the comments i got was that pull-ups are functional because they're good at training grip strength and pulling power if that's your standard for a functional movement then there are millions there are the number of functional movements is basically every exercise you ever do in a gym because that is what an exercise does is it trains muscles so my point on that video that a pull-up is not a functional movement is because the pull-up doesn't really accomplish anything it gets your chin up above a bar and then you come back down the purpose is to get better at doing pull-ups to do more pull-ups do pull-ups with heavier weight but the goal is pull-ups whereas a functional movement like a swing up of some sort is to get on top of the object that you're doing the movement on the goal is not to be able to do more pull or more swing ups the goal is to get on top of the object and i feel like that's the strong distinction between an exercise and a functional movement an exercise is focused on training muscles whereas a functional movement is focused on accomplishing a goal and as i said earlier it it's more applicable to the real world because in a functional movement you're applying complexity to more different so like for the example of the swing up the size of the limb is it a platform what type of uh surface is it is it slippery is it grippy all of that factors in to the movement itself whereas pull pull-ups in general are performed specifically on a pull-up bar now some people branch out a little bit more than that to get a little bit more variety but the reality is pull-ups are pretty standard just like a barbell if you're doing things on a barbell the barbell is designed to be easy to lift it's easy to load weight it's not awkward it's designed to lift the most amount of weight you possibly can in that movement there's a big difference between dead lifting 300 pounds on a barbell and dead lifting a 300 pound rock it's there's a vast vast difference between those two things and that's that's the distinction between a functional movement and an exercise and don't get me wrong exercises are fantastic they are great for filling in gaps for rehab to maybe like highlight a weakness to get to the next step or to finally accomplish a movement but i don't think that they're very beneficial when the purpose of doing an exercise is to get better at the exercise that's once you've gotten to a certain point on an exercise it's time to re-integrate that exercise into a broader movement exercises are very compartmentalized designed to focus on something very specific whereas movements are much broader and designed to navigate an environment but that's my thoughts for today let me know what your thoughts are on exercises versus functional movements in the comments down below if you like the video smash that thumbs up button share the video with your friends if you think they'll benefit and if you haven't subscribed please consider subscribing also if you're looking for new ventures from me i have a podcast called the feral human podcast give that a look and let me know what you think i think i'm on episode 12 now they come out on the new moon and the full moon and also i launched my coaching company other minded i'll have a link down below if you're interested in coaching thanks for watching and until next time keep your life in motion you