Functional Training (Friday Five Edition)

So I have been wanting to post about the class I take at the gym for awhile, but never got around to do it.  Friday Five topic works perfectly into this.


I have been taking a class at the gym for about 5 years now.  It's a class full of regulars and an amazing teacher.  It's called Functional Training, or FT for short.  This class has been going on for almost 20 years.  One of the guys has been going to it for 18 years.

The teacher is an older gentleman from Turkey.  He is short, quiet, and has a heavy accent and he works us hard.  He is also a runner.  Not only a runner, but back in the day he won the Athens Marathon.  Yes, won it.  He also almost went to the Olympics, but he hurt his knee just before.

The class is offered three days a week at 7 AM.  This works out well for me, as when I was working, I could shower there and head strait to work.  Now it's a good reason for me to get up and get my day moving.

Each of the three days is set up differently.  On Tuesdays we have our mats at the back of the class and do abs and weights for the first 20 minutes.  Then he will have us go run the track a few times.  We will either have stations set up for the rest of the class or something else that he has set up for us.  During this time he will send us out to run a few more laps.  In total we run 6 laps for a total of a mile.


On Thursdays we each have our own station set up with a mat and steps.  We do different ab, arm, and step workouts.  We will do group things like lunges, ab workout on the ball, and running back and forth on the side of the room.  There is no running on the track on Thursdays.


On Friday there about 25 stations set up around the room.  Each station is done for a minute then move to the next.  Throughout the class, we are to run 1-3 laps around the track, equaling 6 laps for a mile.  I usually do not go to Friday's class as I am either running or swimming that day.  I also found the same setup each week makes me not push myself as much.


No matter what type of shape you are in or if you have something that is bothering you, you can work at your own speed.  Use heavier or lighter weights, do all the reps or sit some out, or even walk or use the elliptical instead of running the laps.  No one cares how much you do, they are just happy you are there.  It's nice that everyone knows everyone and notices if you miss a day.  It's a great motivator to keep coming back.

What I like about this class is that on Tuesday and Thursday everything is different.  We might do a lot of the same exercises, but none of them are in the same order.  He always likes to throw new things in every so often to throw us off our game.  But we always get strength and aerobic exercise in. 

Do you have a class at the gym you go to regularly?  Or are you motivated enough to do something on your own?

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0