Goal: To engage in a functional strength workout that improves joint stability, balance, and coordination through multi-muscle group movements.
Daily Benefits: Training with functional exercises can help simplify everyday movements by enhancing your ability to squat, reach, pull, and lift objects. This also increases your agility and prevents injuries, making daily tasks easier and more efficient.
Cardio Warmup Exercises
- Step Touch
- Instructions: Step to the side with one foot and bring the other foot to meet it, add arm movements for full body engagement.
- Equipment used: None
- Duration: 3 minutes
- Muscles worked: Aerobic endurance, legs, arms
- Arm Crosses with Side Lunges
- Instructions: Alternate lunging to each side while simultaneously crossing and opening your arms like a clap.
- Equipment used: None
- Duration: 2 minutes
- Muscles worked: Legs, chest, back
Functional Strength Exercises
- Squat to Overhead Press
- Instructions: Hold [dumbbells](https://amzn.to/4aZSfD0) at shoulder height, perform a squat, then press the weights overhead as you stand up.
- Equipment used: [Dumbbells](https://amzn.to/4aZSfD0)
- Duration: 3 sets of 12 reps
- Muscles worked: Quads, glutes, shoulders, core
- Single-Arm Dumbbell Row with Tricep Extension
- Instructions: Lean forward with a flat back, perform a [dumbbell](https://amzn.to/4aZSfD0) row with one arm, then extend the weight back in a tricep extension.
- Equipment used: [Dumbbell](https://amzn.to/4aZSfD0)
- Duration: 3 sets of 10 reps per arm
- Muscles worked: Back, triceps, core
- Reverse Lunges with Bicep Curl
- Instructions: Step back into a lunge while performing a bicep curl with [dumbbells](https://amzn.to/4aZSfD0). Alternate legs with each rep.
- Equipment used: [Dumbbells](https://amzn.to/4aZSfD0)
- Duration: 3 sets of 10 reps per leg
- Muscles worked: Quads, hamstrings, glutes, biceps
- Deadlift to Row
- Instructions: With [dumbbells](https://amzn.to/4aZSfD0) in hand, hinge at the hips into a deadlift, then perform a row at the bottom before standing back up.
- Equipment used: [Dumbbells](https://amzn.to/4aZSfD0)
- Duration: 3 sets of 12 reps
- Muscles worked: Hamstrings, glutes, back, core
- Plank with Shoulder Tap
- Instructions: Assume a high plank position, tap your opposite shoulder with one hand, and alternate while keeping your hips stable.
- Equipment used: None
- Duration: 3 sets of 16 taps (8 per shoulder)
- Muscles worked: Core, shoulders, chest
Cool-Down:
Engage in gentle stretching that focuses on the major muscle groups you have worked today. Allow your breathing to help you sink deeper into each stretch.
Post-Workout Stretching Exercises
- Standing Quad Stretch
- Instructions: Standing on one leg, grab the opposite foot and pull it towards your glutes, keeping your knee pointing down, then switch feet.
- Seated Forward Bend
- Instructions: Sit with your legs extended in front of you, hinge at the hips and reach forward towards your feet.
Implement this functional strength session into your weekly plan to move better, feel stronger, and tackle your daily activities with ease. Track your progress in a workout planner to stay motivated and on course. Complement your exercise with a balanced diet and the support of daily vitamins for men or daily vitamins for women to nurture your body and ensure optimal recovery. Modify these movements according to your fitness level and safety.
