What is a Functional Movement?

Functional movements are movements that mimic motor recruitment patterns found in everyday life.  They tend to be compound movements involving multiple joints.  For regular people that means sitting and standing or picking something up off the ground, movements also known as squatting or deadlifting.  At Renegade Rowing we learn, train, and continually develop functional movements because they develop the strength and power needed in the sport of rowing and life, but also because it would be impossible to live and row without them.

The simple task of getting on and off the water everyday is an easy way to see where functional movements can come into play in the world of Renegade Rowing.  In order to put the boat in the water and get in, a rower must be able to shoulder press, deadlift, and squat.  If you’ve never rowed before you might be able to figure out how to get the boat in the water and then get in it with out these functional movements, but you probably won’t be rowing long if you do.  Either you’ll get injured or you won’t be rowing period having dropped a $30k piece of equipment on the dock to break it in half.

Every Renegade Rower will develop a competency in the Deadlift, Squat, and Shoulder Press.  These lifts will form the foundation of our strength programming and give us the ability to develop more complex functional movements, like the Olympic Lifts.  If we’re lucky we might even develop the best functional movement of all…..

The Row –