By Dax Moy

You were meant to move. Absolutely everything, every system in your body is created with movement in mind. It's what your body is for!

Yet, if you're like most people, movement is something you do only occasionally. Sure, you may get up, go to work or even go to a gym but nonetheless, movement probably features not as high as it should on your 'to do' list.

Let's look at the 'average' day for most people.
- Sleep eight hours
- Travel to and from work two hours (seated)
- Work 8-9 hours (mostly seated)
- Lunch one hour (seated)
- Watching TV or at the pub 3-4 hours
- Gym one hour

As you can see, we simply don't get enough activity into our daily lives to keep us healthy. In fact, more and more of us are suffering conditions that are now being labelled 'hypo-kinetic' illnesses or those being caused by not enough movement. The sad thing is that this is such a simple thing to avoid. We've just got to move!

But what's the best movement? Ask 10 fitness experts and you'll get 10 different answers depending on their personal preference. Yoga, Pilates, aerobics, martial arts, resistance training or walking all spring to mind as perfectly good forms of exercise, yet how do we know which ones are best for our individual needs?

Well, a good question to ask is 'is it functional?', in other words, does it have a carry-over into real life? Looking at many popular forms of exercise including those recommended by most gyms, it is clear to see that many movements are anything but functional, focusing on isolated movements with one muscle at a time instead of larger, multi-joint movements.

Why isn't this the best option? It's not really a case of right or wrong, rather a case of doing more of what the body is designed to do. You see, your body has been created to share loads over as many joints and muscles as possible in order to reduce stress and maximise efficiency.

When you exercise in a more functional way, you recruit more muscles, create a larger calorie demand and develop a more evenly balanced physique as a result. And it takes far less time to train this way too!

So, how do you know if you're training functionally?
- The movements will occur mainly from your own base of support. If a machine is supporting the weight or something is supporting you then you'll be using far less muscle as a result. Ideally, you should stand on your own feet whilst carrying out the exercise. Just the act of standing up uses nearly every muscle in your body!
- The movements will occur in three planes of motion. Weights machines achieve their isolation by locking you into one range or 'plane' of motion. Whilst seemingly a good thing, this isolation robs you of the stimulation of literally hundreds of muscles that are all waiting to help. Using free-weights or even your own bodyweight allows you a much freer pattern of movement that calls for far more muscle.
- The movements will occur at a variety of speeds. Training in the sterile environment of the gym it's not too uncommon to see most movements being carried out at a steady 'up one two, down one two' tempo. The rationale for this is that it supposedly creates optimum loading and reduces injury potential. What happens though, when the person training under these protocols has to react to real life events such as catching a fast moving ball or slowly lowering a piece of heavy furniture? Do you think that their gym programmes will have prepared them for either eventuality? Of course not!

You see, we need to understand that the weight we are lifting is no indication of the forces acting upon our bodies. A 5kg dumbbell lifted rapidly may actually require more force to be generated than a 20kg load lifted slowly! This may be one reason why people often injure their backs when they bend over quickly to pick up a light object.

Using a variety of lifting speeds or tempo's will not only make for a more functional body but also will challenge more muscles and create a better physique too!

So, there you have it. The second part of the energy equation, 'functional fitness'. Use the above criteria to assess your current training or exercise programme. If it's not functional then you could really be missing out.

The Little Black Dress plan:
1. Little Black Dress diet: starting out
2. Week one: your mental gym
3. Week two: optimal alignment
4. Week three: water and hydration
5. Week four: energy balance - energy in
6. Week five: energy balance - energy out
7. Week six: recovery and regeneration