That whole pie called functional training

Running is just an arc in your fitness routine, not the complete circle. Running uses the same muscles, overloads the same joint over and over again, overloads your cardiovascular system and is a good recipe for Repetitive Strain injuries, generally caused by overuse of a particular muscle and joints only. 

Resistance training is the other part of the arc that completes your fitness training. Lifting weights is the most effective form of resistance training and will help you find a completely balanced body. 

Weight training promotes hypertrophy (increase in muscle mass), while too much of cardio or not enough resistance training leads to Sarcopenia, a condition where you lose muscle mass - It is dangerous. The muscle that is not challenged will lose its nerve supply and your body will mark that muscle as unwanted and slowly remove it from your body. Have you lost a lot of weight by just calorie deficit and hours of just running and cycling - I am sure you’ve also lost your ability to park your heavy bike in the centre stand - I would never call it progress. Prioritise fat loss over weight loss. Pay attention to your body composition, just physically feeling your muscles, looking at yourself in the mirror is enough - Seriously, you don’t need a DECA scan.

That one kg dumbbell is not doing it for you:

1. You need to challenge your body with heavy weights. Heavy weights doesn’t mean 100kgs, its just a relative measure. If you lifted 20kgs last week, lift 21kg next week. Progressively overload your body. The same intensity and the same volume is not doing it. 

2. Only challenging intensities promotes new muscle growth and increases bone density. If all you do is only run and walk, I am pretty sure your upper body is just supported by few brittle bones. The bones that are subjected to heavy resistance are made up of steel, yes, figuratively.

3. So, yes the 1 kg dumbbell is just an expensive paperweight just what it deserves to be. 

Failure is the stepping stone for success:

Cliche? I know this quote is abused beyond its meaning. But failure has its own place in the strength development. Human body is so efficient, it only improves when there is a constant need for improvement - failure in lifting a weight tells your body that you are training to be something you are not and it will trigger muscular growth. Some trains 10 reps per set, some by 20 reps per set but your body has no measure of how may repetition you do, your body is simply math ignorant - but it senses fatigue. You should often lift to failure.  Keep the weights, sets and reps challenging enough to improve strength; grow muscle mass. Lifting in the comfort zone, will give you marginal benefits only.

Basic guide to build a functional body: 

If you are into building a functional body, you should consider choosing exercises that are based on movement patterns than just muscles. 

You might’ve heard people talk about their gym schedule with respect to muscles. Chest day, leg day, back day or arms day so forth. It says that they are training for aesthetics for the most part and functional benefits from these exercises may be very minimal or zero based on the choice of their training methods. 

Movements over muscles 

Think in terms of movement than muscles. Choose exercises that involves a lot of muscles and a lot of joints - these exercises will train your body as one entity - just the way it is supposed to be. Muscles that are created with functional athletic training will stay with you forever. 

Some terminologies will change the whole point of view. When I say 'workout' I feel like I mindlessly move my body to expend energy or burn calories. I prefer to call it 'Training' , it feels like you are preparing yourself for the worst. 

There are only 7 basic types of movements that are very essential for a successful fitness program.  Training these movements will ensure a physically independent old age. Every other exercise is purely optional. 

1. Push - Yes, pushing something away from you.Pushing exercises uses specific set of muscles, say shoulders, chest, triceps to name a few. These muscles usually work together to create a pushing force from your hands.  Push ups, Bench press, over head press are some of the best exercises in this category.

2. Pull - Our hands are supposed to the most rugged accessories of our body. They weren’t designed to text and type. They were meant to grab aerial roots climb trees, hills and mountains. An old saying goes that a man is as strong as his back directly implies how pulling power is a critical component in defining raw strength. Rear delts, back muscles, lats and biceps are the dominant pull muscle group. Pull-ups, barbell rows, renegade rows, dumbbell rows, cable pull downs are some exercises that you may want to add to your schedule. Pulling improves your grip strength which an undeniable indicator of your strength.

3. Hinge  - Bending forward and picking up an heavy object from the ground is a life skill, no matter how menial it sounds.  Hips are our power house. To jump forward you have to hinge forward. To generate an ample plyometric power, you have to bend forward.  Deadlifts, Good mornings, Hip thrusts, RDL are some of the hinge exercises. 

4. Squat - Squat is a not just a life skill but a way of life. I believe deep squatted position should be the most comfortable position for any human being.  Include any kind of squat in your routine, every variant has its own place in the kingdom. Weighted back/front/overhead squat is not a leg workout, it take every bit of your muscles to accomplish one proper squat. Barbell back squat, Front squat, Over head squat, pistol squat, sissy squat, sumo squats.. there is a huge matrix of squats to choose! 

5. Lunge  - Lunge is just a squat with one leg. Unilateral movements are very essential to increase the stability and balance of your muscles. Not all the time both of your legs do the same thing at the same time - be it running or cycling or climbing up a hill, one leg climbs and the other acts as a fulcrum and then they take turns. Lunge walk, Bulgarian split squats, barbell lunges - one of these should be part of your routine.

6. Loaded Carry - Picking up a heavy load and walk; be it a bucket of water or a dumbbell. This sounds easy but the functions it develops are enormous. Core stability, core balancing, grip strength and a lot more. Farmers carry, KB suitcase carry, over head carry, trap-bar walks and more.

7. Jumps/hops  - Jumps are very basic, they teach your body to function together as one unit. It teaches you to balance, generate power, recruits fast twitch fibre and I can go on and on and on. Board jumps, Ice skaters, box jumps to name some. 

Lift often, fail often - that's the motto.