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Functional strength training
One of the biggest buzz terms in fitness currently, functional strength training may be just what you need if you feel that your workouts don't have any relevance to the rest of your life.
Functional strength training works of the principle of performing workouts that will help you better cope with whatever life throws at you. In the same way that we each face different challenges in our lives, so functional strength training aims to adapt and change to meet each person's individual needs.
Examples of functional strength training might be weights workouts for a mother who spends hours each day holding an infant, or endurance sessions for a professional golfer who is on his feet for hours each day. The starting point for designing workouts like this is to figure out what your needs are - this will often come from analysing the things that you find difficult or that leave you tired.
So if, for example, climbing stairs is hard for you, workouts might focus on exercises such as step ups. Starting with step-ups onto a low box you would gradually increase the height of the step, the speed, and the quantity, until you were comfortable at higher levels. This is a skill that would transfer very directly from the gym to the real world environment.
If this is of interest to you, either talk to a trainer, or else take a good look at the things that tire you out or are difficult, and figure out which exercises will help prepare you for them. It could make life a whole lot easier!
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