Functional Training Leads to Muscle Gain & Or Fat Loss

Functional Training and Fat Loss

Dr. Osborne here, As you know, I am big on breaking traditional myths. The myth that gluten in corn is safe for example. The myth that avoiding sunshine is healthy, the myth that soy based foods are good for you… Many with gluten issues have trouble putting weight on (especially lean muscle tissue). Many with gluten issues have difficulty losing fat and building lean muscle. It doesn’t matter which category you fall under, if you listen to my good friend, Shawna, you will do well. She has written a guest post on functional exercise in hopes to dispel the myth that long bouts of cardiovascular exercise are the best way to build a lean, healthy body frame. Pay attention to her – she has more experience on this than anyone I know. She is 50 and in better shape than 99% of the general population. By Shawna Kaminski So you want to be ‘functional’ in life right? That is, you want to be able to move easily and avoid injury when doing everyday movements, correct? Wikipedia defines functional training this way: Functional training attempts to adapt or develop exercises that allow individuals to perform the activities of daily life more easily and without injuries. Functional training, if performed correctly, will lead to better joint mobility and stability, as well as more efficient moment patterns. Improving these factors decreases the potential for an injury sustained during any athletic endeavor or performance in a sport. Functional training is:

• Integrated – It should include a variety of exercises that work on flexibility, core, balance, strength and power, focusing on multiple movement planes.
• Progressive – Progressive training steadily increases the difficulty of the task.
• Periodized – mainly by training with distributed practice and varying the tasks.
• Repeated frequently.

If you’re looking for functional training, I have good news for you…you needn’t go too far. In fact, you can train with me right in your own living room with functional movements that will help your fitness game and aid in fat loss too. Hey, I’m Shawna K and I’ve been doing functional training for more years that I care to admit. Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m 50 years old and it’s due to the nature of the way I exercise that I’m able to sport abs like this: I don’t waste time on machines or ‘gadgets’ that are supposed to help you get lean and toned. Movements on machines really have nothing to do with real life, that’s why I count on lots of bodyweight and dumb bell movements to help tone my muscles and to keep me lean. As you know since you’re a reader of Dr. Peter Osborne, your abs are made in the kitchen; nutrition is paramount to your health and your ability to feel comfortable in your bathing suit this summer. Why not dial in your exercise program to support the healthy eating that the good Doc Osborne has you doing? I have a program that utilizes something I call M2A or ‘muscle metabolism acceleration’. It’s called Challenge Fat Loss and it’s on scientific principles and is like NO other program. Muscle metabolism acceleration is the MOST effective method of fat loss. I’m sure that Dr. Osborne has educated you on the downfalls of long, slow boring cardio. The fact that studies have even proven that doing steady state cardio can actually produce the fat storing hormone, cortisol and increase appetite. Things you DON’T want to happen. When you use muscle metabolism acceleration, you’ll tap into your anaerobic energy system while increasing lean muscle tissue. Both of these things will help you increase your metabolism even at rest. You’ll be burning calories long after your short 20 minute workout. You’ll also promote fat burning hormones like GH (growth hormone) to help you drop those pounds. As we age we have a natural decline of growth hormone, so you can benefit from naturally increasing GH with my workouts. I combine HIIT, or high intensity interval training with strength training in scientifically proven, fun workouts that you can do at home. The best part is that you’ll up your workout intensity as you follow along with the videos I provide. You’ll be pushed to new levels of intensity. This will help you achieve those fat loss results that you deserve. To bring this full circle, Challenge Fat Loss utilizes functionally sound exercises. You’ll be using body weight and simple DB moves to strengthen tighten and tone your entire body. You’ll move better, you’ll get stronger and leaner while reducing your chance of injury. You’ll find a TON of variety to hit your body from every angle. My program is progressive and periodized so you’ll gradually increase your intensity. It’s intended to be used 3-5 times a week and I make it easy for you since the workouts are short and done at home with a minimal amount of space and equipment.   Here’s a great circuit using functional fitness principles and HIIT: Do 30 seconds of work with a 5 second transition: Box jump or step up Push up (incline, prone or decline) Prisoner squat jumps Get ups Prisoner reverse lunge Plank recovery Repeat up to 5 times through. Have fun with this workout and if you want fun follow along workouts, you can check out my Challenge Fat Loss program. You can follow along with me as we go through more sweaty, challenging short workouts that use functional fitness movements as a base. About Shawna Shawna Kaminski is a retired schoolteacher of 20 years who’s found her passion in the fitness industry. She’s parlayed her ability to teach and her love of training into programs that you can directly benefit from. Shawna just turned 50, is a mother of two teenagers and understands how busy life can be. Her workouts are short and intense and often can be done anywhere. She’s always up for a challenge and shares her fitness challenges with you. Currently she runs her own fitness boot camps and coaches clients in person and online with her amazing result getting programs.