What is meant by functional movements?

In the biological sense of the term, function means something that is in place to perform a specific task or, something that is in existence for a specific task or reason. When we talk about the human body, functional movements are movements based on real world situations. Humans are designed to stand up from a squatted position. Therefore, we squat. We pick things up off the ground, we run, jump, move external objects and our own body weight. These are all movements found in life and therefore they are trained in CrossFit. Our bodies were not designed for isolation movements using a machine as resistance. We see it everyday in the typical gym environment, when people train with partial and non-functional movements, which exponentially limit physical capacity and actually increase the chance of injury.