Functional strength training simply means training our bodies to better perform the types of movements we use for everyday life. The time spent developing dynamic strength, flexibility and agility carries over into your daily activities, making life a little bit easier.Our bodies go through a variety of motions every day :

Lifting: Laundry basket, grocery bags, kids, etc.
Reaching and pulling: Opening the refrigerator or dryer, putting dishes away or picking things up from the floor
Power: Standing up from chair, going up stairs or walking up a hill
Balancing: Walking, holding multiple bags of groceries while carefully navigating the stairs or carrying a baby while talking on the phone and cooking dinner
Combinations of the above
Functional Exercises

To get better at these daily movements, strength training is a must and there are four functional exercises that will help you get the most out of your body. Performing these several times a week will enable you to do more with less effort and more confidence.

You can do them anywhere, anytime:

Push-ups: Start with wall push-ups and progress to placing your hands on the kitchen counter. You can do 5-6 while waiting for the microwave to finish. These firm your chest, arms, abs and back.
Squats or lunges: Most reaching, lifting and bending movements involve an element of squatting or lunging. Remember to push out your tush and don’t let your knees go farther forward than your toes. You’ll strengthen your knees, quads and hips.
Grocery Bag Lift: Each time you go shopping strengthen your arms by lifting a bag 6 times to the front, side and rear. You can also do a modified bicep curl. Just remember to keep your shoulders back and abs tight while working your arms.
Lift: Pick-up that heavy pet food bag or laundry basket by squaring your feet shoulder width apart, squatting down, grabbing hold and pushing up with your legs. Put it down and do it again. If your knees hurt, practice lifting from a chair until you get stronger.
Functional Equipment

There are a variety of tools to help you get a little more functional including:

Dumbbells: Begin with 3-4 pounds and progress to 8-10
Body Weight: Combined with jump ropes or exercise balls, body weight is often challenging on its own, especially with lunges and push-ups
Resistance Bands and Loops: Replicate the exercises on a cable machine in the gym
Exercise Balls: A fun way to combine balance work with other exercises
Medicine Balls: Great for combo moves involving the shoulders
Just as athletes train for their specific sport, we have specific household or recreational activities to train for. Make your training count; make it functional!

Adaptation to your exercise routine is one of the main reasons for hitting a plateau. Try something new by keeping your muscles off balance. When they get used to lifting a certain amount in a certain way (sound like your workout?), they stop growing. A weight lifting program that never changes also creates strength imbalances; that’s unproductive and dangerous. Below are some ideas you can use to change your weight training routine and blast even more calories.

Straight Sets
What they are: The usual — a number of repetitions followed by a rest period, then by one or more sets of the same exercise.

Why they’re useful: The rest periods and narrow focus of straight sets help add mass and build maximal strength. As long as you rest enough between sets (1 to 3 minutes), your muscle, or group of muscles, will work hard two, three, even five times in a workout.

How to use them: The start of your workout is the best time to do straight sets, regardless of your experience level. Your energy and focus are high at the start, so it’s the best time to execute difficult moves. Perform three straight sets of six to eight repetitions of a challenging exercise like the bench press, pullup, or squat; aim to do the same number of repetitions in each set, with either the same or increasing amounts of weight.

Supersets

What they are: A set of each of two different exercises performed back-to-back, without rest.

Why they’re useful: Supersets save time and burn fat. You can multitask your muscles — for instance, working your chest and back in one superset and legs and shoulders in another. Lifting heavy weights in a short time period increases the rate at which your body breaks down and rebuilds protein. This metabolism boost lasts for hours after you’ve finished lifting.

How to use them: Insert a superset at any time in your workout. To involve the most muscles, pair compound exercises — moves that work multiple muscles across multiple joints. For example, combine a chest press with a row, or a shoulder press with a deadlift. To save more time, pair noncompeting muscle groups, such as your deltoids and glutes. One muscle group is able to recover while the other works, so you can repeat the set without resting as long.

Trisets

What they are: Three different exercises performed one after another, without any rest in between.

Why they’re useful: Trisets save time and raise metabolism. A single triset can be a total-body workout in itself.

How to use them: Trisets are a good workout for at home (or in an empty gym), because you need to monopolize equipment for three exercises. Do basic exercises that hit different body parts — like bench presses, squats, and chinups. Perform a warmup set using 50 percent of the weight you usually use in each exercise. Then repeat the triset two or three times, using weights that allow you to perform eight repetitions per set. Rest 1 to 3 minutes after each triset.

Drop Sets

What they are: Three or four sets of one exercise performed without rest, using a lighter weight for each successive set. Also called descending sets or strip sets.

Why they’re useful: Drop sets are a great quick workout, fatiguing your muscles in a short time, getting your heart going, and giving you an impressive postworkout pump as your muscles fill with blood.

How to use them: Use drop sets when you’re pressed for time. Don’t do them more than three times a week; you’ll get so tired you won’t be able to accomplish much else. Start with a warmup, using 50 percent of the weight you expect to use in your first set. Now use the heaviest weight you’d use for eight repetitions of that exercise to perform as many repetitions as you can. Drop 10 to 20 percent of the weight and go again. Continue to reduce the weight and go again, always trying to complete the same number of repetitions (even though you won’t), until your muscles fail.

Circuit Sets

What they are: A series of exercises (usually six) that you complete one after another without rest, though you can do some cardiovascular work (such as jumping rope) between exercises.

Why they’re useful: When you use weights, circuits can be a great total-body workout. But they’re most valuable without weights as a warmup of the nervous system, joints, and muscles. Circuit training stresses the entire body, it’s more effective than a treadmill jog, which primes only your lower body.

How to use them: You’ll annoy the other guys at the gym if you do an entire workout based on circuits, because you’ll monopolize so many pieces of equipment. But one circuit is quick and effective. If you’re using it as a warmup, you need only your body weight or a barbell. Or use just a pair of dumbbells and circuit-train at home where you won’t annoy anyone.

This list should give you an idea of how many options you have when it comes to weight training. It’s up to you which ones you want to use, but always remember to start slow and allow your body to adjust to your new workouts. Schedule in recovery days so your muscle can heal and grow, and don’t forget to stretch. As always, your routine should be a balance of weight training, cardio exercise and a healthy diet.

Jean-Claude Van Damme will face Somluck Kamsing in a legitimate kickboxing fight in 2010! Van Damme spoke to the press about his plans for the year, indicating that he will have three reality shows this year – one related to casting, one behind the scenes on a Van Damme film project called The Tower, and one that follows Van Damme as he trains for his fight with Somluck.

The third show will follow both Van Damme in his training and Somluck as he trains in Thailand, culminating in the actual fight between the two men, to take place in either September or October in Macau, China (a change from the original plan to hold the fight in Las Vegas). Ever the self-promoter, Van Damme’s The Tower will also be released at that time, so that in a one month span, Van Damme’s different shows will wrap up, his new film will be released, and the Somluck fight will air.

Many women steer clear of weights, and especially heavy ones,
in fear of developing a too heavily muscled physique. However,
as noted, due to their hormonal make up this is very unlikely.
Indeed it is important that women realise that heavy weight
training can be very important for them in terms of shaping up
and developing the body they desire.
Too much CV work – although burning calories – can leave
a ‘tired’ looking body. Weights will firm up and tone muscles.
You can also shape a better body by looking at your proportions
and selecting weights exercises that could provide better balance
by increasing the size of relevant muscles, for example, pear
shaped women with wide hips could enhance their shape by
targeting their shoulders with exercises such as the shoulder
press, adding width to this area and better balancing their body
shape.

The value and impact of aerobic fitness to the exercise enthusiast extends beyond the boundaries of the workout room. At the very least, engaging in aerobic exercise can increase your life span. Research indicates that for every hour you spend exercising aerobically, you extend your life two hours. In anyone’s value system, that’s an extremely good return on your investment. Aerobic exercise also can improve the quality of your life, as well as the quantity of your life.