Your client is hesitant about Functional Training. How can you help them see its value and benefits?

Functional Training offers practical benefits by mimicking everyday movements, making daily tasks easier and safer. It reduces injury risk by strengthening muscles used in regular activities, ensuring better body alignment. Unlike traditional workouts, it targets multiple muscle groups, enhancing overall fitness, balance, and coordination. Suitable for all fitness levels, Functional Training can be tailored to individual needs, allowing steady progression. Its varied and engaging workouts keep you motivated, preventing boredom and promoting long-term commitment to your fitness journey.

Functional Training is about enhancing real-world movements, not just gym performance. If you're hesitant, consider this: Functional Training builds strength, balance, and flexibility in ways that directly impact your daily activities, from lifting groceries to improving posture at work. It’s a holistic approach, helping you prevent injuries and boost overall mobility, making everyday tasks easier and safer. The personalized aspect means it can be tailored to your specific goals and lifestyle. By focusing on functional exercises, you're investing in long-term health and vitality, ensuring you're not just fit for the gym but for life.

Defining what FT and how it will benefit your client is critical. We all need some form of functional training, whether you’re a professional athlete or not, how you move on a daily basis can make or break your health and vitality. Your body moves in 3D so you should train this way as well.

When a client is hesitant about Functional Training, it’s important to address their concerns and highlight the specific value and benefits that this type of training can offer. Here’s how you can help them see its value: 1. Explain the Purpose of Functional Training Real-Life Application: Emphasize that Functional Training is designed to improve the movements and activities they perform in daily life. Whether it’s lifting groceries, climbing stairs, or playing with kids, this training enhances the strength, flexibility, and coordination needed for everyday tasks. Holistic Fitness: Explain that Functional Training focuses on full-body movements rather than isolating muscles.

O ponto mais interessante do treinamento funcional é realmente o fato dele "imitar a vida real". Ao realizar movimentos com dominancia de quadril, joelhos, puxar e empurrar com exercícios integrados, estimula-se uma melhora de for?a, estabilidade e integra??o corporal que realmente é transferida para o cotidiano.

Highlight how functional exercises mimic everyday movements, improving performance and reducing injury risk. You can also provide concrete examples of how functional training can benefit the client's specific goals (e.g., better posture, increased strength for sports). Track improvements in areas like balance, coordination, and strength to visualise results. Share success stories from other clients who have benefited from functional training and be prepared to address common misconceptions and concerns about functional training.

If I had a client with this viewpoint (which is understandable as this term is frequently thrown around in the fitness industry) then I would first get them to perform some ‘daily activities’ in front of me and then mirror this by showing them a functional training exercise to help. For example, bending down to pick a toddler up from the floor, carrying the grocery bags from the car to the house, etc. Explaining which muscles they’re using and the different exercise we can do to help.