Whether your goal is building strength, agility, or confidence—functional exercises are essential. These aren’t just “men’s exercises.” They’re for everyone, and mastering them will help you navigate everyday life more efficiently, injury-free, and with a stronger body.
As obé Fitness instructor Nicole U. explains, “Functional exercise prepares you for LIFE.” How? It helps you build strength, balance, and flexibility for the everyday movements of life—like lifting heavy bags, picking up your child, or just moving with ease—by engaging multiple muscle groups at once.
But what are functional exercises? How often should you do them? And most importantly, what are the benefits? We’re diving into all this and more, covering the five key exercises every woman should know, and do!
What is Functional Exercise?
“When instructors talk about functional training, they’re referring to exercise that focuses on improving your ability to perform everyday activities more efficiently and safely.” We’re talking squats, lunges, push-ups, deadlifts, planks, farmer’s walks, sled pulls… the list goes on.
Nicole breaks it down: “These types of functional exercises mimic movements you perform daily, engaging multiple muscles and joints simultaneously.”
Here’s an example: let’s say you drop your lipgloss on the floor, you instinctually bend down to pick it up. Simple, right? It might be at first. But if you don’t have great lipgloss-picking-up form, you also may notice pain or tweaks in your back as you bend to get it. This worsens as you age since your joints naturally get stiffer and less flexible. The result is that simple movements, like bending down, getting up off a chair, or carrying your groceries, can become difficult—and in some cases, almost impossible.
Enter in: Functional exercises.
“Functional training focuses on building strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility, through multiple-muscle movements,” says Nicole.
5 Functional Exercises You Should Know (and Master!)
1. Squats
How to Perform: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, chest up, and lower yourself as if sitting back into a chair. Keep your knees in line with your toes and descend until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Push through your heels to return to standing.
Muscles Activated: Quads, hamstrings, glutes, and core.
Benefits: “Squats are great for building lower body strength to perform daily tasks like walking, climbing stairs, or lifting objects—even your toddler!” says Nicole. Because they’re so foundational to any movement you do in life, mastering squats in the gym or with added resistance can help prevent injury.
Try the obé Fitness Squat Program—an 8-week beginner-friendly workout program with 3 weekly Strength classes at 10, 15, and 25 minutes in length—to master this exercise.
2. Deadlifts
How to Perform: Start with feet hip-width apart, a slight bend in the knees, and hold a weight or barbell in front of you. Hinge at the hips, keeping your back flat, and lower the weight to your shins. Return to standing by driving through your heels and squeezing your glutes at the top.
Muscles Activated: The posterior chain, aka the muscles in the backside of the body like back, glutes, hamstrings, plus some core action.
Benefits: “Deadlifts improve posture, reduce lower back pain, and increase athletic performance in movements like running or jumping,” Nicole explains. Strengthening your posterior chain helps with bending, lifting, and overall daily function, while also reducing the risk of injury.
3. Push-ups (or Bench Press)
How to Perform: Start in a plank position with hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Lower your chest to the floor while keeping your body in a straight line. Push through your palms to return to the starting position.
Muscles Activated: The chest, shoulders, triceps, and core.
Benefits: Nicole says, “Push-ups are a classic bodyweight exercise that mimics the movement of pushing objects, like opening a heavy door.” They strengthen the upper body and core, making them one of the most functional exercises for real-world strength.
Want to improve your push-ups and don’t know where to start (they can be super intimidating)? Check out obé’s Push-up Program! This workout program features 3 weekly Strength classes—just 10 minutes each—with a progressive schedule you’ll follow for 8 weeks. It’s beginner-friendly and is a great supplement to any fitness routine.
4. Pull-ups (or Row)
How to Perform: For a pull-up, hang from a bar with palms facing away and pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar. For a row, hinge at the hips, hold weights, and pull them toward your rib cage, keeping elbows close to your body.
Muscles Activated: The upper back, lats, biceps, and core.
Benefits: Nicole emphasizes that “Pull-ups or rows reduce back and neck pain and improve spinal alignment.” These movements are essential for strengthening the upper body and improving posture, especially if you spend a lot of time sitting.
(Psst… An obé Pull-up Program is coming soon. 😉
5. Overhead Press
How to Perform: Stand with feet hip-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells or a barbell at shoulder height. Press the weight overhead until your arms are fully extended, then slowly lower back to the starting position.
Muscles Activated: Shoulders, triceps, upper chest, and core.
Benefits: “Overhead presses are great for shoulder strength and mobility,” Nicole says. “They train the muscles needed to lift objects (or toddlers!) overhead.”
Breaking Down the Misconceptions
If the thought of loading a barbell in a busy gym seems daunting—you’re not alone. We hear from many women that these types of exercises are intimidating, especially at first. It can be challenging to perfect your form, and it doesn’t help that a lot of the fitness industry markets these exercises as being for men. They’re for the girls too!
In fact, as Nicole puts it, “These misconceptions are based on outdated stereotypes about fitness, gender roles, and the effects of certain exercises on the female body—like making women ‘too bulky’ or ‘too muscular’.” Yawn. Can we drop that narrative now (and these other exercise myths)? As women, we want to be strong—and functional exercises are the way to get there.
“Fortunately, many women know better now, and intentionally seek out functional training programs as well as progressive training programs,” says Nicole.
So now you know what functional exercises are, which ones you should try to master, and why they’re important. Let’s get into the nitty gritty—when, where, and how you should incorporate functional exercises into your exercise routine.
Your Guide to Functional Exercise
How often should you do functional exercise?
The best way to incorporate functional exercise is to follow a functional training plan, like obé’s Simply Strong program. These programs are carefully crafted to ensure you expose your muscles to enough training stimuli to build strength, without overdoing it.
(🔎Pro tip: Head to obé’s Programs page and browse by goal to identify which functional training program is right for you. Explore options for gaining strength, losing weight, improving fitness, building muscle, or prenatal and postnatal support.)
We asked Nicole her take: “The frequency of functional training will depend on your goals. On average, I recommend people incorporate functional exercise anywhere between 3 to 6 days a week.”
In terms of your goals: If you want to do short bursts of exercise (10-20 minute workouts), you can train more frequently because you’re not causing the same amount of muscle damage. But if you like to go hard, a 3-workout week is probably your sweet spot. “It’s important you find a good balance between improving fitness and allowing for recovery,” notes Nicole.
What are some considerations for starting a functional exercise program?
Nicole’s top tips:
- Focus on form: Ensuring your technique is right when you perform the most foundational functional movements like squats, lunges, push-ups, and planks, will help you perfect the more complex functional movements like deadlifts, farmer’s walks, and others.
- Only progress when you’re ready: You should add more complex and dynamic movements or heavier weights once you’ve mastered the basic exercises. This will help to prevent injury and set you up for success down the road.
- Don’t underestimate recovery!: Starting a new style of training, particularly functional training, which uses multiple muscle groups, is very taxing on your body. So don’t try and overdo it while forgoing recovery. Plan recovery days into your weekly workout to ensure your body is fighting fit in your next workout. Try the Recovery Essentials mini-program for some recovery tips and tricks.
What’s the best place to start?
Start here: the Squat Program or the Push-up Program. In just 10 to 25 minutes a day, you can finesse these foundational functional exercises, which will get you set up for your future in functional fitness!
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