Tag: biomechanics

Train for Life: Why Functional Fitness Matters

Posted on by Michael Devon

Most people work out to lose weight, build muscle, or feel healthier—but have you ever thought about how exercise affects your everyday life? At SA Functional Fitness, we train in a way that makes you stronger for the movements you do every day—whether it’s lifting a heavy bag of groceries, climbing stairs, or just getting up from a chair without discomfort.

Why Functional Training?

A lot of traditional workouts focus on isolated movements (like bicep curls or leg presses), but life doesn’t work that way. In reality, your body moves as a whole. That’s why we train your body to move better, not just look better.

Here’s what that means for you:

  1. Move Better, Feel Better

If you’ve ever had back pain, stiff joints, or tight muscles, it’s often because your body isn’t moving the way it should. Our workouts help:
✔ Loosen up tight muscles
✔ Strengthen weak areas
✔ Improve balance and coordination

So instead of just getting stronger, you’re also preventing injuries and pain.

  1. Strength That Matters

Being “strong” isn’t just about lifting heavy weights—it’s about having the strength to do the things you love without struggle or pain. We focus on exercises that help you:
✔ Lift and carry heavy objects safely
✔ Climb stairs without feeling out of breath
✔ Stay active as you age

This means you’re not just working out—you’re building a body that supports you in real life.

  1. Say Goodbye to Aches and Pains

Do you ever wake up with a sore back? Or feel pain in your knees after a long day? A lot of pain comes from weak or imbalanced muscles. Instead of just “pushing through” discomfort, we focus on:
✔ Fixing your posture to reduce strain on your joints
✔ Strengthening your core to protect your back
✔ Teaching you better movement habits so you don’t keep making the same mistakes

  1. Workouts That Fit YOU

No matter your fitness level, our training is designed to fit your body, your needs, and your goals. Whether you’re a beginner or have been active for years, we make sure you’re moving safely and effectively.

It’s Time to Train Smarter

If you want to move better, feel stronger, and avoid injuries, functional fitness is the way to go. At SA Functional Fitness, we’re here to help you build a body that works for you—not against you.

Ready to get started? Book your first session today and feel the difference!

Functional Exercise and Natural Human Movement

Posted on by Michael Devon

When it comes to fitness, one of the most effective approaches to building strength, mobility, and resilience is functional exercise. Unlike traditional training that focuses on isolating muscles, functional exercise mimics the natural movements of daily life and ancestral human activity. Movements like walking, running, throwing, and lifting objects reflect our evolutionary design and ensure that our bodies perform optimally. Two fundamental aspects of this approach are the gait cycle and contralateral reciprocation, both of which are rooted in our natural biomechanics.

Functional exercise emphasizes training movements rather than muscles. It focuses on multi-joint, multi-plane motions that mirror the activities we perform in our daily lives. The benefits include improved coordination, balance, and strength while reducing the risk of injury.

This type of training is rooted in the premise that human movement evolved to navigate complex, natural environments. To understand its significance, let’s delve into two key elements that contribute to functional motion: the gait cycle and contralateral reciprocation.

The gait cycle refers to the sequence of movements that occur during walking or running. It’s a rhythmic, repetitive process that involves:

1. Foot Strike: The foot contacts the ground, initiating the cycle.

2. Midstance: The body balances over the supporting leg.

3. Push-Off: The foot pushes off, propelling the body forward.

4. Swing Phase: The opposite leg swings forward to repeat the process.

Functional exercises that align with the gait cycle build strength, stability, and mobility in the necessary muscles, while enhancing joint health and motor control in what you do naturally everyday.

This intent behind exercising, supports efficient movement patterns and protects against imbalances caused by sedentary lifestyles or improper training.

Contralateral reciprocation refers to the natural coordination of opposite limbs. For example, when you walk, your right leg swings forward as your left arm moves in tandem, creating balance and momentum. This cross-pattern movement is essential for efficient energy transfer and stability.

Functional exercises that incorporate contralateral patterns activate deep core muscles, improve coordination, and simulate real-world tasks. By training these patterns, you prepare your body to handle dynamic movements like running, climbing stairs, or even balancing while carrying groceries.

Why Train Natural Movements?

Modern life often limits our physical activity to repetitive, linear motions (e.g., sitting, typing, driving). Over time, this can lead to muscular imbalances, poor posture, and joint stiffness. Functional exercise rooted in natural movement helps to:

• Improve overall athleticism and resilience.

• Enhance mobility and joint stability.

• Prevent injuries by reinforcing balanced movement patterns.

• Foster a connection between mind and body for better proprioception (body awareness).

How to Incorporate Functional Exercises into Your Routine

1. Focus on Multi-Plane Movements: Incorporate exercises that move through all planes of motion (sagittal, frontal, and transverse).

2. Prioritize Core Stability: Exercises like planks and proper rotational movements build a strong foundation for all movement.

3. Train Unilaterally: Single-leg or single-arm exercises replicate real-world tasks and correct imbalances.

Functional exercise compliments natural human movement by aligning fitness goals with how our bodies were designed to move. Training with an emphasis on the gait cycle and contralateral reciprocation not only boosts strength and stability but also enhances your ability to navigate daily life with ease.

So, next time you step into the gym, think beyond isolated biceps curls or stationary machines. Instead, embrace exercises that flow with your body’s innate rhythms and help you move through life as nature intended.

Natural Movement and Contralateral Reciprocation: A Perfect Harmony

Posted on by Michael Devon

When we talk about natural human movement, one of the most fascinating and essential concepts is contralateral reciprocation. This is the biomechanical process where opposite limbs (e.g., right arm and left leg) move in sync during activities like walking and running. It’s a fundamental aspect of how our bodies are designed to move, playing a key role in balance, coordination, and efficiency.

What Is Contralateral Reciprocation?

Contralateral reciprocation refers to the natural, coordinated movement of opposite sides of the body during locomotion. For example, when you take a step with your left leg, your right arm swings forward. This movement pattern is not random; it’s an integrated response that our nervous system has developed over millions of years of evolution.

This coordination allows us to move more efficiently and maintain balance. As one leg swings forward, the opposite arm counterbalances it, reducing the amount of twisting or rotating forces on the spine. This not only makes our movement smoother but also conserves energy, enabling us to walk or run for longer periods without tiring as quickly.

The Biological Basis:

Contralateral movement is deeply rooted in our nervous system. The brain and spinal cord are designed to coordinate these opposite limb movements through a network of neurons and reflexes. When one limb moves, signals are automatically sent to the opposite side of the body to engage the corresponding muscles.

This cross-body communication is what makes activities like walking and running feel natural and effortless. It’s also why these movements are prioritized in our workouts, as they are deeply embedded in our motor patterns.

The Importance of Contralateral Reciprocation in Daily Life:

In everyday life, contralateral reciprocation is essential for efficient and effective movement. It helps us maintain balance when walking on uneven surfaces, navigate obstacles, and even perform complex tasks that require full-body coordination.

Training and reinforcing contralateral movement patterns can enhance athletic performance, improve posture, and reduce the risk of injury. Exercises that emphasize cross-body movements can help fine-tune these natural patterns, ensuring that our bodies move as they are designed to.

Benefits of Embracing Natural Movement

By focusing on and enhancing contralateral reciprocation, we can achieve numerous benefits:

– **Improved Coordination:** Reinforcing these natural movement patterns sharpens overall coordination and motor skills, making everyday tasks easier and more efficient.

  

– **Better Balance:** Contralateral movements help distribute weight more evenly across the body, reducing the risk of falls and improving stability.

  

– **Enhanced Athletic Performance:** Athletes who train with an emphasis on contralateral movement patterns often experience better performance in activities that require full-body coordination, such as running.

– **Injury Prevention:** Proper contralateral movement reduces strain on the spine and joints, decreasing the likelihood of overuse injuries.

Contralateral reciprocation is a powerful reminder of the elegance and efficiency of natural human movement. By understanding and embracing this fundamental aspect of our biology, we can move through the world with greater ease, balance, and grace. Whether you’re walking, running, or training, paying attention to the harmony between your limbs can unlock the full potential of your body’s natural movement capabilities.

Your Fundamental Movement

Posted on by Michael Devon

Our exercises load the patterns of the gait cycle. Which means the mechanics of the exercises carry over to the mechanics of walking and running. This is important because as humans we walk daily, it’s one of our most frequently used movements so our goal is to get your body strong in that fundamental context; which will carry over to other aspects of function.

Bipedal contralateral movement is what developed our muscles and why they function the way they do. Modern times have made it difficult to keep our muscles functioning the way they were designed because we use the wrong lifting patterns when we exercise, we’re sedentary… and then we SIT on an exercise bike for “exercise”, we stretch the wrong way resulting in flaccid muscle tissue. All of these variables effect the way your body functions in real life.

In our gym we train your body to move the way your body naturally moves in life outside the gym. Simple looking, but not so easy to perform (correctly) when your body has been out of touch with these foundational movements. It takes time and repetition to reconnect your muscles and get them working optimally.

Contact us to set up an introductory session to assess your current movement patterns and why they’re causing your body problems. Learn to solve those problems with exercise that simultaneously builds strength and mobility, while addressing dysfunctional mechanics and correcting your functions back to optimal so your body can move well and perform without pain.

Hurting After Exercise Is Not Normal

Posted on by Michael Devon

It’s one of those days, you just finished a grueling workout at the gym and your joints are aching, your lower back is stiff, and your tendonitis is flared up.  Your workout buddies deal with the same aches and pains so you write it off as normal, just part of getting old, and what it takes to stay in shape.

We’re here to tell you that it is not normal, getting old doesn’t have to feel painful, and if you really were “in shape” your body wouldn’t be in a state of chronic aches and pains. Although all the above is commonly experienced by the majority of gym goers, it’s not supposed to be that way. In fact when you move correctly and your muscles contract properly you experience a state of wellbeing.

Imagine this; you just finished an intentional workout, your body is feeling light and springy, you feel a pump all over your body like your muscles are getting stronger, yet you feel like you just stretched out your entire body, your spine feels decompressed, and your shoulder and knees don’t hurt.

This is what your body should feel like after exercising, and it can once you learn how to use your muscles to move correctly. This is what our trainers teach; we don’t count reps, we make sure every rep counts. We train you to intentionally move your body against your default mechanics to override dysfunctional patterns and optimize your movement.

One thing is for sure, our training is not like what you see in the mainstream (maybe that’s why so many people are in pain) or like anything you’ve felt before. Come in and learn what you need to be feeling to fix your body, with our beginner friendly introductory session!

Your Guide to Squats

Posted on by Michael Devon

It’s time to educate yourself on the relevance of the squat. Prioritizing this movement in your training routine when it makes up a small amount of daily movement, neglects movements that you do majority of the time, like walking. Think about it… outside of the gym how many times a day do you squat compared to how many steps you take?

We aren’t kangaroos, we’re humans. We move around by transferring our weight from one leg to another in a contralateral pattern. Whereas a squat is going to keep your legs confined to a bilateral position. We aren’t saying squats aren’t important, but in the real world when you need to bend over and pick something up it happens a fraction of the time, it usually doesn’t happen repetitively, and you’re doing it for a specific purpose that normally doesn’t make up your entire day (unless your job or sport requires that, but we’re talking about general function).

When you use the squat as an exercise, you’re performing it for numerous reps with the intent to build muscle and get stronger. The problem with using squats (or any bilateral/sagittal based exercise) as the bulk of your leg training is that you’re building arbitrary muscle mass, meaning it doesn’t serve a purpose. The strength you built doesn’t carry over outside of the squat pattern, so the way your body moves most (ie; walking) doesn’t have the support it needs.

Come train with our trainers to learn how to build muscle that aligns with it’s function. Carrying over the strength you build in the gym to a stronger body outside of the gym. You’re human, it’s time you start training like one.

Step Into Our Functional Gym

Posted on by Michael Devon

What makes our training different from other gyms is that we don’t let you go through the motions of an exercise, just to say that you exercised.

We prioritize your posture during an exercise to activate muscles that are normally dormant, to support your body in a way that it normally doesn’t get supported.

So no matter where you’re at physically, your body can benefit from this type of training because it’s low impact, corrective, and sustainable.

This lets you build a foundation to progress from, without pain!

Mind Muscle Connection

Posted on by Michael Devon

Neuromuscular reprogramming is just fancy jargon for training the brain/body connection via the correct exercise stimulus.

We have our clients utilize a mirror for most exercises to point out when their form is compromised leading to injury and understanding why the way they perform certain functions causes pain.

The consensus is that their brain thinks the way they’re already doing it is right. But when they get a reality check in the mirror they can finally see (and feel) the cause and effect from improper movement.

Your brain is always going to prefer to stay in its comfort zone and move through the path of least resistance, which is what prompts your muscles to respond with inefficient patterns. A pro tip we teach our clients is to slow down the movement and focus on controlling the details. Your body will learn how to use your muscles efficiently to move correctly and retrain your brain in the process.

Come feel what our gym does differently from the rest in the industry. Set up your initial (no obligation) consultation so we can get to know your body and you can get a feel for our style of training.

Functional Alternative to “Traditional” Glute Bridge

Posted on by Michael Devon

Why is this exercise superior to the traditional variation of the “bridge?”

This exercise is teaching muscles to contract the same way they do to support these joint positions in reality. Not necessarily this exact position, but the overall position of the joints relative to other joints.

For example, the problem with the traditional glute bridge is that it trains the hips to extend while the knees are in flexion- when in reality this joint position combo doesn’t happen. When your hips extend, your knees are also extended- so it’s important to match the exercise up with what happens in reality to condition your muscles the way they naturally work.

Google “glute bridge” and you’ll see the difference in the exercise pattern between the traditional technique and the functional technique. Basically speaking, when your hips lift up they are extended, and when your hips are extended in real world movements, your knees are also extended. Hence why we teach our clients to perform the glute bridge with the hips up and the knees straight. This way teaches your muscles to associate contractions with the way they contract in the real world, providing more muscle support for your joints inside and outside the gym.

Our team of Functional Patterns trainers do a phenomenal job educating you about why certain exercises don’t work the way we thought they did. Instructing you through functional alternatives that train your muscles to function properly with the rest of your body, in the context they’re supposed to work.

Force

Posted on by Michael Devon

Your body encounters and responds to multiple forces to propel through space.

Your body rotates, shifts, adducts, abducts, flexes, extends, undulates, spirals, pronates, supinates, and more- all at the same time.

These functions are necessary to move yourself efficiently through multiple planes of motion without pain and dysfunction.

As a human, your natural movement revolves around your gait cycle and the functions that make it successful.

To elaborate further- these functions work in oppositional harmony and set off a domino effect through your kinetic chain with every motion you do. Sometimes more or less depending on the movements.

To simplify- you need to be good at performing these functions. Your muscles contract better and your body moves better when natural functions aren’t compensated for.

Train with our team of Functional Patterns practitioners to address dysfunctional movement and restore your natural performance.

Functionalpatterns.com