Fitness Friday: Functional Strength of the Upper Body

Probably one of the most beneficial types of strength training exercises for the general population is “Functional Lifting”.  Functional lifting exercises involve multiple muscle groups working together in order to complete a task.  The reason these movements are so beneficial is because they not only have the ability to improve muscular strength and endurance, but they also improve the amount of control a person has over his/her own body weight.  I think it is fair to say that having optimal control over your own body weight is ideal for creating a better quality of life.  Especially as we get into our later years we really value the ability to continue our activities of daily living; (i.e: walking up and down stairs, mowing our own lawn, standing up out of a chair, grabbing high-to-reach objects, etc…)  Your body is something that you have for your entire life, why not form a positive relationship with it and make it great.  Please enjoy the above video demonstrating the progression of two different functional training exercises that will help increase upper body strength; the push-up and the pull-up.