If you’re anything like me then you probably find a few exercises you really like, and stick to them religiously. You’ve been told your whole life that all you need to do is squat, deadlift, and press, right? Well that works to a point, but if you actually see what top functional fitness athletes do in their day to day training, you’ll see it’s far from just the basics. I’m going to use my years of experience in the gym to show you the 5 best functional fitness exercises that you aren’t doing. Hopefully this will help you break through a training plateau, and increase your fitness. Keep reading for more.
Fear not, I won’t show you some incredibly obscure, super niche exercise that the US Mens Curling team used to improve their spinal alignment. Nor are we going to be covering specific accessory movements like bicep curls or other isolation movements. We’re talking about functional fitness here, which means that it has to fulfill a few requirements for me to recommend it.
First, it must be useful in your everyday life. If your daily tasks are harder because of it, then it’s no good. Secondly, it has to be as good or better than other more common movements. Lastly, it has to provide a measurable benefit in sports performance as well.
It goes without saying that these exercises are safe. In fact, many of them can lower your risk of injury. I’m sure you’ve heard of an over-use injury. They’re caused by repeating the same movement pattern way too much. Here’s a list of the 5 best functional fitness exercises that you aren’t doing.
The 5 Best Functional Fitness Exercises
- Reverse Barbell Squat
- Heavy Box Squat
- Accommodating Resistance Training
- Tabata Treadmill Run
- Single Arm Dumbbell Row
I know some you of you are going to point out that these aren’t all movements, strictly speaking. Some of them are training styles, or methods. Well you would be right, but I’ve used these methods to improve fitness for many years. They have the added benefit of being backed by scientific research.
I do want to point out that I’m not taking a metaphorical (or literal) dump on the standard barbell movements, or traditional functional fitness workouts. Those should still comprise the bulk of your workout routine. I’m simply pointing out that a lack of exercise rotation will leave you with some weak spots in your overall fitness.
Next, we’re going to cover these exercises in some detail. I’ll detail how I like to use these functional movements in my workouts. A little later on, I’ll point you towards a few of my programs that use these movements. Let’s get to the first functional training exercises, the reverse barbell squat.
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Reverse Barbell Squat
The reverse barbell squat is a great way to train your lower body, for several reasons. This is a unilateral movement that really hammers your leg strength. Most athletes spend way too much time training both limbs at the same time. This is called bilateral training.
There’s nothing wrong with this, but it can leave you with some strength imbalances. Let me know if this sounds familiar. You’re standing behind someone who’s squatting. As they descend, you notice that one side of the barbell dips, and they transfer the weight to one leg.
They may be able to squat heavy weight this way, but this is clear example of a strength imbalance. The human body is pretty smart, and it will compensate on compound movements. In this case, it causes the athlete to favor their stronger leg. The best way to fix this is to do some unilateral training, one leg at a time. Here’s and example of the movement.
How to Program the Reverse Barbell Squat
I can guarantee that if I let you program this on your own you would probably go pretty light, and limit your reps. I don’t know why athletes do this, but this is meant to be a strength building movement. Most research shows that you can actually exert more force per leg, when doing unilateral training, than you can combined with both legs.
When I program this movement into a functional workout routine, I like to stick to 4-12 reps per leg for 3-5 sets. The loading should be very heavy. If you can squat 275 lbs, then I would expect that you can use between 95-175 lbs on your lunges. Some of you are doubting that you can move that much weight. Give it a shot, and I think you’ll be surprised.
This movement is also very good for athletes that have some minor lower back pain. Doing a challenging set with 135 lbs on your back is going to load your spine much less than squatting 315 lbs will. Obviously, if you’ve got a serious injury, go get that looked at. This movement can be a great sub if you’ve minor issues with your low back muscles. Now, let’s move on to the heavy box squat.
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Heavy Box Squat
Most coaches use the box squat strictly for newer athletes, and it’s very good for that. However, it’s an amazing tool for athletes that need to develop leg power, as well as building strength. There’s a difference between the two. You develop lower body strength when you move a very heavy object with max effort. You develop power when you move a lighter object with maximum speed. Box squats can be a very dynamic movement.
If you want to get very fancy, you can get an adjustable box, so you can build strength in different portions of your squat. Have trouble getting through your sticking point? Start your box squats at that height. Want to sprint faster? Set the box above parallel and move a moderate weight with max speed. It’s a great exercise. Here’s a demo below.
How to Program the Heavy Box Squat
Most functional fitness athletes should use this movement to break through squat strength plateaus. In many of my performance oriented programs, I have athletes squatting twice per week. I recommend maintaining a conventional back squat day, and doing box squat on the second day. Adding different ways of squatting will help shore up your weaknesses.
I prefer to load this exercise very heavy. It will definitely be above your 1RM back squat. If you can squat 275 lbs for a one rep max, then you can probably do somewhere around 315 for a heavy single, with a box squat. I recommend something like 5-7 sets of 1-3 reps, building to heavy top set.
I absolutely love this exercise for athletes that mentally psyche themselves out when they un-rack a PR back squat weight. After a few weeks of box squatting, with much heavier loads on your back, your brain gets used to the feeling. This can really impart confidence on your next one rep max back squat attempt.
If you want to use this exercise for power development, then you should stick with 5-10 sets of 3-5 reps. You need to pick a weight that doesn’t cause you to slow down across reps. Less is more. I recommend going with something around 50% of your 1RM back squat for a set of three. Your goal is to stand that weight up as fast as possible!
We’ve covered two of the five best functional fitness exercises, now let’s move onto number three. While this is more of a training style, you can really build huge strength with this method.
Accommodating Resistance Training
You’ve probably seen athletes with bands or chains on their bars, and wondered what was the point of that. This type of training is called accommodating resistance training. As you lift the weight more and more resistance is applied to the bar. It also looks really cool and makes a great social media post!
We’re all familiar with standard barbell movements where the bar begins to move, slowing down at the sticking point. Once you push through that point, you can then finish the rep with less effort. When doing a rep with a chain or elastic band, it’s easiest at the bottom, and increases in difficulty all the way to the top. This forces your body to recruit more muscle fiber than it otherwise would.
I’ve written several programs using this method. I recommend checking out this article on the research behind this training method. As you’ll see, it’s one of the fastest methods to increase strength for intermediate and advanced athletes. Here’s an example.
How to Program Accommodating Resistance Training
The important thing to remember is the 70/30 rule. You should load the bar with 70 percent normal weight, and use 30 percent accommodating resistance. I tend to prefer elastic bands, as they’re cheaper (Amazon Affiliate Link), and you can throw them in your gym bag.
I think chains are best if you want to use them for overhead pressing. You absolutely don’t want a bar rocketing down on your head if you have a bad strict press. Similarly, you shouldn’t use bands for olympic lifts, unless you like injuries that is.
This training method is great for sport athletes, in the real world. Often times they need to exert force in a standing position. This means that their joints are going to be near their end range of motion. Accommodating resistance forces your body’s ability to adapt to producing force at these joint angles.
If you adhere to the 70/30 rule then you can use this training method the same as you would for any functional training program. Want to do 5×5, knock yourself out. Want to try my supplemental strength program with accommodating resistance, go ahead. This type of training doesn’t require special sets or reps.
We’ve covered a lot of methods I like to use to improve strength. Next, we’re going to cover my favorite method to improve both aerobic, and anaerobic capacity. It’s time to build that engine!
Tabata Treadmill Run
This is probably the most effective method I know for increasing your conditioning, and running speed. It’s also 1000% percent miserable, as you’ll be running near max heart rate. As most of you know, the Tabata protocol was designed several decades ago. It’s incredibly effective at increasing aerobic and anaerobic capacity. The protocol has 8 intervals of 20 sec of work, followed by 10 sec of rest. In total, it lasts 4 minutes.
Crucially, you have to work above your VO2 max. Specifically, you need to be around 170% of your VO2 max. VO2 max is simply research jargon for the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use. If you go above this level, you’re using your anaerobic energy system to provide the extra energy. In this protocol, we’re well above that level, which puts this squarely in the anaerobic zone.
How to Program a Tabata Treadmill Run
This is super easy to program. First, you need set the belt speed to your 5k run pace. Next, you need to set the incline to 10%. Once you begin the interval, you simple hop on the belt for 20 sec, and hop off, standing on the sides for the 10 seconds of rest.
Obviously, you need to do a reasonable warm up, and then start the protocol. You also need to be careful hopping on and hopping off, especially as you fatigue. You’ll know you got this right when you want to quit after round 4.
I normally have an athlete do this protocol a few times per week at the same speed. I then increase the speed by one tenth of a mph, on the second week. In the third week, I add a second tabata, after 5-8 minutes of rest. The speed would be slower on the second run. Now let’s get to our final exercise.
If you want to increase your functional fitness performance, then check out my 7 week program.
Single Arm Dumbbell Row
This is one of the best functional strength training movements for athletes that can’t seem to get their first strict pull up. Functional athletes spend a lot of time with vertical pulling movements like pull ups, and muscle ups, and they almost completely neglect horizontal pulling.
It’s never a good idea to neglect a whole plane of motion. In the long run it will really hamper your upper body development. I prefer to program this exercise where the athlete supports their body with one arm and one knee on a flat bench. Here’s and example
How to Program Single Arm Dumbbell Rows
This movement is often done incorrectly by bro’s trying to ego lift. It’s also done incorrectly when athletes go way too light. Dumbbell rows are a heavy compound exercise. You need to use a weight that will challenge you. You can’t build strength with light weight.
The first thing you need to do is make sure your set up is correct. Place the dumbbell directly where you arm hangs once you’re in position, and really brace your core. Your core muscles need to be tight, otherwise you’ll end up using too much momentum to move the weight.
Start the move by retracting your shoulder/shoulder blades, and then use your arm to finish the pull. Pretend that you’re elbowing someone hovering above you. Avoid rotating your core and pretending that you’re pull starting a lawn mower. A little body movement is ok, but we aren’t mowing the lawn here.
I recommend sticking with 3-5 sets of 6-12 reps for this exercise. If you finish and think that was pretty easy, then you didn’t go heavy enough. If you consistently work at this exercise you can really build strength and muscle mass in your back. This is also one of the few exercises that you can use wrist straps to assist your grip. Don’t use them on all sets, just on your final, most challenging sets.
Finding Your Next Functional Fitness Program
In this section we’ll cover some great programs that use these movements and training methods. I’ll include a variety of programs for athletes with different training goals. Some programs will use more traditional strength training methods, and others will use movements and methods from the 5 best functional fitness exercises list. Here’s they are.
- The 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program (for those that want to build muscle)
- 9 Week Advanced Functional Fitness Strength Program (using accommodating resistance)
- 12 Week Muscular Growth Program (for those that want to build fitness and muscle)
- 72 Week Functional Fitness Program Series (how to sequence my best programs in order)
- 5 Week Strength and Conditioning Program (for intermediate athletes)
I recommend checking out these programs to see which one best fits your goals. I have dozens more programs, so feel free to browse around the website. You can also check out my ebook/programs page where I list all my best premium programs. These programs have specific warm ups, coaches notes, and the best functional fitness exercises.
Final Thoughts
I hope this list of the 5 best functional fitness exercises sparked some ideas for your own training. These movements are some of the best whole body movement patterns that can push your fitness to the next level. I don’t recommend adding in all these movements in at once.
Substitute one fore some of your free weights, and gradually get used to the new movement. You should aim to use full range of motion, with good form. If you follow the appropriate recommendations for each movement, you’ll probably find that your fitness increases. You can’t continue to make progress if you keep training using the same methods and movements for ever. Now pick an exercise program that fits your goals, and get working!
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