Functional Fitness – Lousy Name but Effective Training Style

Behold… our new fleet of weight sleds!!!

These beauties are a great example of how “Functional Fitness” works. You add an appropriate amount of weight to them, and then simply push them across the floor! Why? Because it works. And by “works” we mean it develops your fitness faster than traditional fitness movements where machines or movements isolate portions of your body. By just hunkering down and using your entire body as an integrated network of muscles, neurons and connective tissue, we can challenge the system as a whole, rendering the time to fatigue sooooo much faster than most other movements. Pushing a sled falls into the category of Functional Fitness because it mimics something we do in real life – pushing! Furthermore, if you want to de-jargonize the term, think of this training style as just verb-focused exercise… Push, Pull, Carry, Throw, Lift, Jump, Climb, Crawl, Swing, Press, Run, Balance, Drag… you get the picture.

Our business has been focused on developing these real-life skills for over 10 years and we’ve designed our new space and its contents for our members to be able to develop these skills in a safe and effective way. The new opportunity we have is to get more people doing more functional movement so that we can all be better at life. That’s why our functional fitness areas are side-by-side with the traditional fitness areas so that we can all move between them easily.

So come explore the new spaces, the new toys and the new ideas we have as an organization as to what great fitness is all about. If you see something you are curious about, ask. If you see some equipment you have never used before, ask. And if you see some forms of movement that intrigue you, ask. Our staff is INSANELY interested in helping everyone get better workouts, so it will be our pleasure to help you expand your knowledge and practice.

And lastly, we want to be clear that we wholeheartedly believe that ALL movement and forms of exercise are valuable! Functional fitness is a great thing, but so is a bicep curl and a spin bike. The Nautilus machines serve as safe tools for developing strength, and the treadmills allow consistent, year-round conditioning development. So every one of our GMCF members should be proud of themselves every time they walk through our doors regardless of how they choose to move their bodies.

GMCF – Everyday Stronger!