Functional fitness is the result of training at the Monkey Bar Gym. Did you ever see those bodybuilding gorillas at the typical gym or on those workout shows on television? They are all about isolating a muscle to increase its size, the opposite of functional fitness. They even tell the viewer to "put your mind in the muscle." This kind of bodybuilding will build individual muscles and is great for posing, but did you ever see one of these guys try to scratch his back, swing a baseball bat, play basketball or even throw a football, all true tests of functional fitness? The reason that these things all look funny is because the human body is not trained for functional fitness by training isolated groups of muscles! The human body is a chain, with all of the links working together to perform everyday tasks, as well as athletic functions. This is functional fitness. Lifeline USA’s portable fitness equipment products promote "closed chain" exercises, where muscles are not isolated, but perform together. This is functional fitness equipment that supports human movement perfectly." For example, we do not condone bench presses done while lying on a bench. These do absolutely nothing for your back, because your back is being supported by the bench. Lifeline USA’s portable fitness equipment products provide the ability to do standing bench presses, where the back, legs and core are all involved in the exercise, along with the chest and shoulders, thereby providing functional fitness. Functional fitness is one the main goals of training at the Monkey Bar Gym.
