The 5 Best Exercises for Functional Movement

Exercises for functional movement: do you do ‘em? We can get so caught up in the aesthetic and feel-good benefits of working out that it’s easy to forget that exercise also has a very functional purpose: namely, to help us move more easily throughout our daily life. 

This is the main purpose of functional training, and why we think it’s so important to talk about exercises for functional movement. It’s also why we created an entire series around functional movement on BR+. Hosted by Micheal Levine — a certified strength and conditioning coach, a Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist (FRCms), a and registered 500-hour yoga instructor — our Stretch & Mobility series teaches a combination of functional range conditioning and yoga stretches to improve your joints, flexibility and mobility. You can improve your joint range with controlled articulated rotations (FRC) and become more aware of your body's limits for certain exercises. 

Thousands of our BodyRockers have been adding these sessions into their routines before and after workouts to help them move and feel better long term while minimizing the chance of an injury. We also recommend doing these sessions on rest days to keep your body moving and vital.

Join us on BR+ now for a free 30 day trial  — no risk! You can also join our BodyRockPlus.com Insiders group on Facebook and see how other BodyRockers are incorporating functional movement into their workouts.

The Best Exercises for Functional Movement

So, let’s get to the moves. We asked Coach Michael what his top recommended exercises for functional movement are, and he gave us his five favourites. These are the moves he recommends to his clients to help them look and feel good in their own bodies and throughout their daily activities.

Grab our resistance bands now and score great savings. Once you’re comfortable doing these moves with bodyweight alone, you can add them to your exercises for increased strength and functional gains. 

Goblet Squat 

This move focuses on glutes, core, great compound movement to strengthen the lower body. Useful when getting down and up off a chair, improves performance for sport: cycling,running, hiking.

Dumbbell Bent Over Row 

Don’t forget about your posterior chain! So often, our day-to-day activities are always forward movements. It is essential to think about your back side to improve posture, overall upper body strength and counter all the pressing and pushing exercises we do on a daily basis. 

Decline Push Ups 

Upper body strength focus, adding a twist while elevating your feet when regular push ups get too easy. A bodyweight push up whether modifying on your knees or decline is a great bodyweight exercise you can do anywhere with no equipment! 

Bulgarian Split Squat 

Train and work on unilateral exercises to challenge and push the body. Great to increase mobility and strength in the glutes and quads.

Single Leg RDL

Learning to hinge at the hip is key when bending over to pick things up so you’re not using your BACK!

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Add these exercises for functional movement to your next workout and start living a more functionally robust life. Remember, your complimentary trial of BR+ awaits, so you can join us today and try all of the Strength & Mobility sessions, for absolutely free.