You should take a functional movement class
by Alana Rigby, reviewed by Megan Prenty
Megan (above, left) teaches restorative classes with a zillion props. Alana (above, right) teaches ridiculous flips in aerial classes. We both play with high-drama poses in rocket yoga.
These are cool things to do, but at the end of the day, they don’t necessarily help you live a pain-free, efficient life.
That’s why we’re launching classes with a focus on functional movement.
What is functional movement anyway?
Living your life, it’s unlikely you’ll pop into a wild thing pose.
Our friend Kevin in the yoga pose, wild thing
What’s more likely? You’ll get out of bed. You’ll reach up to grab a coffee cup. You’ll lean down to tie your shoes. You’ll kneel to pick up the keys you dropped because you’re tragically undercaffeinated.
These are functional movements. They:
Use several joints at once
Use many muscles at once
Require coordination and strong neural pathways trained through years of habit
Move through multiple planes – side to side, front to back, rotational – at once
If you’re like us, maybe you’re a little clumsy. You trip now and then. Stairs can be perilous. You maybe turned around too quickly once and couldn’t turn left for the rest of the day without pain.
Our brains do functional movements without conscious thought. We don’t treat getting into the car or putting a pan in the oven like bicep curl or deadlift at the gym. We don’t think about form or strategic muscle engagement to prevent injury. And we shouldn’t have to. Our brains need these motions to be safe and seamless to maximize our ease and efficiency. To free up our brain for thinking more Important Thoughts.
That’s where functional movement classes come in.
What’s involved in a functional movement class
These classes train our brain and our body. We work specific, controlled motions in an environment where you are thinking about how to perform them safely. We repeat them to increase the strength of both the big muscles and, more importantly, of all those teeny stabilizing muscles that prevent injury.
Functional movement classes can include:
Bands to create resistance when we train movement
Corgeous balls to help safely flex and extend joints and increase range of motion
Pilates-like repetition of small movements to build strength in specific muscle groups
Tune-up balls to perform myofascial release (a form of self-massage that loosens knots and tight bands of muscle and fascia to increase ease of movement)
With repetition, our brains and bodies learn to optimally perform these multi-planar, multi-muscle actions.
Take a functional movement class
In the fall, we’re offering two styles of classes to build functional movement skills in different ways:
Alana: Strengthen and Stretch
Drop-in yoga class that uses repetitive Pilates-inspired motions to build strength both in your yoga practice and in functional movements
Every class closes with myofascial release rolling using yoga tune-up balls
Tuesdays at 7pm – sign up on the Encompass site
Megan: Functional Movement Workshop Series
4-week series of 1-hour classes that uses props and strategic functional movement exercises
Includes an in-depth workshop manual and online course with class recordings to help you repeat these exercises outside the studio (or for you to still get the content if you have to miss a class!)
Saturdays February 3-24 at 11am - sign up on the Encompass site
Follow along with Megan on her Instagram
We’d love to see you there!
