Words by Danni Levy
Photography @saphdansnaps
If the thought of functional exercises makes you want to hide behind the gym lockers, it could be time to pull your socks up and cater to the needs of your anatomy.
Peak performance requires full functionality, which, sadly, you’re not going to acquire during an afternoon snooze on the bench press.
Take a cue from the CrossFit cards and incorporate these five heavy hitters into your weekly regime to leapfrog your strength, speed, and stamina to the next level.
Clean and Jerk
The clean and jerk is a weightlifting movement that involves lifting a barbell from the ground to the shoulders, then overhead. It targets the quads, glutes, hamstrings, core, shoulders, and triceps.
Benefits include improved overall strength, power, and explo- siveness and increased muscle definition in the upper and lower body.
Skipping
Jumping rope with both feet off the ground continuously targets the calves, quads, core, hamstrings, and shoulders. Skipping is excellent for cardiovascular endurance, coordination, agility and calorie killing.
It’s also a low-impact exercise, making it a great option for working through joint pain or injury.
Burpees
This high school favorite begins in a standing position, before dropping down to a push-up position and back up.
Burpees target the chest, triceps, shoulders, core, glutes, quads, and hamstrings. You can expect to kill calories, improve cardiovascular endurance, and build strength for your suffering!
Dumbbell Snatch
Lifting a dumbbell from the ground to an overhead position in one fluid motion, the dumbbell snatch targets the quads, glutes, hamstrings, core, shoulders, and forearms.
Practice the snatch to increase overall strength, power, and explosiveness and improve muscle definition in the upper and lower-body.
Box Jumps
Quite simply, jumping up onto a box or platform from a standing position. Box jumps target the glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves. Master this move to improve cardiovascular endurance, coordination, and balance.
