By: G.L. KLEINMAN

Do you come to the gym regularly? If you do, is resistance training part of your regimen? Ok, if it is, do you only use machines? Well if you answered yes to the last question, you are missing out on the real potential for your fitness. Adding functional exercises to your regimen will help you take your fitness to the next level.

Weight training machines generally isolate one muscle group. By adding functional training you can improve balance or proprioception, agility and coordination, and engage your core. Functional fitness exercises are designed to train and develop your muscles to make it easier and safer to perform, from everyday activities, such as carrying groceries or playing a game of basketball with your kid, to improving performance in your chosen sport. Functional fitness exercises train your muscles to work together and prepare them for daily tasks by simulating common movements you might do at home, at work or in sports. While using various muscles in the upper and lower body at the same time, functional fitness exercises also emphasize core stability. For example, a squat to bicep curl is a functional exercise because it trains the muscles used when you pick up an object from the floor or a table. By training your muscles to work the way they do in everyday tasks, you prepare your body to perform well in a variety of common situations.

Body weight training is "functional training." The biggest advantage to bodyweight training is most exercises can be done almost anywhere since all that is required is adequate floor space, and various types of chin ups and pull ups can be performed anywhere there is a reachable bar, or if you've got a strong grip, anywhere you can securely hang a strong towel or thick piece of rope. It is both convenient and time efficient. If you are traveling for work, are on vacation, or can't make it to the gym one day, you can still train effectively performing just body weight exercises.

The biggest disadvantage to bodyweight training is resistance progression is not as straightforward or as easily measured as with weight training.

"As you become stronger and better conditioned you must increase the resistance you work against during exercise to stimulate further improvement. Resistance - the force your muscles work against during exercise - is the product of a variety of factors, the two biggest being mass and lever."

Resistance progression with barbells, dumbbells or machines is simple and easy to quantify, record, and compare over time. As you become stronger you increase the weights used - the mass - proportionally. The movements (levers encountered) do not vary significantly.

"With bodyweight training the mass - your body - does not increase in proportion to your strength. If you're losing fat your body is providing progressively less resistance, and muscle mass does not increase in equal proportion to strength (e. g. you don't gain 10 pounds of muscle mass for every additional 10 pounds you can lift on average). To increase resistance without resorting to weight belts or vests you have to increase the lever the muscles are working against. This is accomplished by performing progressively more challenging variations of an exercise or progressively more challenging exercises for each muscle group."

Body weight training can be done as part of your training regimen, incorporating certain exercises into your "machine routine." Doing this will improve overall fitness and you won't have to give up your favorite machines.

 Learn more at the Seminar on "Body Weight Training" at the MCC
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 @ 6:30 PM.

Tips & Techniques

Tip: No buttermilk? Mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice into 1 cup milk.

Shopping tip: White whole-wheat flour, made from a special variety of white wheat, is light in color and flavor but has the same nutritional properties as regular whole wheat. Whole-wheat pastry flour can be used as a substitute here. Both can be found in the natural-foods section of the supermarket or online from King Arthur Flour, bakerscatalogue.com.

Mini Mushroom and Sage Quiches 
(Click for nutritional information and printable copy of recipe)

Serves: 10

Total Time: 1 hr 

Ingredients

Directions

1. Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 325°F. Coat a nonstick muffin tin generously with cooking spray.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Add oil to the pan. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer mushrooms to the bowl with the sausage. Let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in scallions, cheese, and pepper.
3. Whisk eggs, egg whites, and milk in a medium bowl. Divide the egg mixture evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of the sausage mixture into each cup.
4. Bake until the tops are just beginning to brown, 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Place a rack on top of the pan, flip it over and turn the quiches out onto the rack. Turn upright and let cool completely.

Cherry-Mint Spritzer 

(Click for nutritional information and printable copy of recipe) 

Serves: 4

Total Time: 10 min

Ingredients 

• 1 cup(s) pitted fresh or frozen (thawed) cherries
• 1/4 cup(s) fresh mint leaves, plus 4 sprigs for garnish
• 8 teaspoon(s) sugar
• 1/4 cup(s) lime juice
• 3 cup(s) cherry-flavored seltzer

Directions

1. Divide cherries, mint leaves, and sugar among 4 glasses. Mash everything together with the back of a wooden spoon. Stir in lime juice. Fill glasses with ice and top with seltzer. Garnish with mint sprigs.
   
   Exchanges: 1 fruit. Carbohydrate Servings: 1. Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (15% daily value).