Functional training is exactly that: functional, useful, practical and purposeful. By mimicking everyday movements, it builds the muscles that you actually use, and helps to improve your strength, balance and mobility all the while.

And the best way to capitalise on functional training? With a purpose-built functional trainer.

Functional trainers, also called cable machines, are unique and versatile pieces of fitness equipment that can seriously enhance your gym experience, whether in a home fitness studio or at a commercial gym.

In this guide we’ll take a closer look at functional trainers, to learn how they can help you maximise your training to reach your fitness goals sooner, or provide a better experience to your gym members.


What are functional trainers?

Functional trainers are large pieces of fitness equipment that feature a series of adjustable pulleys and cables.

They’re designed to help you isolate and work any and every muscle group, while also enabling you to replicate compound movements – the natural, ‘functional’ movements that you do in your day-to-day life.


Benefits of functional trainers

Functional trainers offer a wide variety of workouts. The cables and pulleys give you a greater range of movement, which is why cable machines are often preferred by experienced gym-goers.

They help you not only develop usable strength, but balance, coordination and mobility too. They can be an effective tool for injury recovery and rehabilitation. And by choosing lower weights and lighter resistance, you can use these machines for cardio to lose excess weight.

Finally, the ability to adjust the resistance of the cables, and the fact that you’re often replicating everyday movements, means that functional trainers are suitable for all fitness levels, from beginner to expert.


5 functional trainer exercises

What sort of exercises can you do on a functional trainer? The short answer: plenty. Here are five common movements, but keep in mind that the exercises you do should reflect your fitness goals and level of expertise.

Cable chest press

  • Form: Begin with a staggered stance, hold the handles at chest height, and press your arms forward until they’re fully extended.
  • Benefits: Builds your chest, shoulders and triceps while improving core stability.

Lat pulldown

  • Form: Sit facing the machine, grip the overhead bar wider than shoulder-width, and pull it down to your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body.
  • Benefits: Strengthens back muscles, improves posture and builds pulling power.

Cable squats

  • Form: With the cable running from the base of the machine, hold the handle at hip height, lean back slightly, and complete a squat with your back straight and vertical.
  • Benefits: Engages your glutes, quads and core to improve lower body strength and stability.

Woodchoppers

  • Form: Grip the handle with both hands and rotate your torso while your arms move diagonally across your body in a chopping motion.
  • Benefits: Builds arm, shoulder and core strength.

Cable row

  • Form: Sit or stand, and pull the handle towards your abdomen, keeping your elbows tight and your back straight.
  • Benefits: Strengthens your back, biceps and core to improve your posture and pulling strength.

How to create a functional trainer workout routine

  • Define your goals: Before you design your functional trainer workout, you should have a clear goal in mind, whether that be losing weight, building strength and endurance, or improving your balance and mobility.
  • Choose your split: For an efficient workout, opt for full-body circuits (e.g. 6–8 exercises in a row, 2–4 rounds). If you’re looking to build muscle, try a push/pull/leg split: chest, shoulders, triceps one day; back, biceps the next; legs last.
  • Incorporate everyday movements: Consider the movements you struggle with at work or at home, and incorporate them into your workout through pushing, pulling, squatting, hinging and rotational exercises.
  • Adjust resistance and reps: To build strength, choose heavier weights and do fewer reps. To build endurance, do the opposite.
  • Gradually progress: Slowly increase weight, reps or intensity as you improve your fitness levels.
  • Prioritise variety and balance: Train all your major muscle groups across a week to ensure no part of the body is left behind, and add in new exercises from time to time to keep things fresh.
  • Warm up and cool down: Perform stretches and dynamic movements to prepare for and recover after a session.


Maintaining and caring for your functional trainer

No matter whether you’re the proud owner of a small home studio or a sprawling commercial gym, properly maintaining your functional trainer is critical. It protects your investment by making it last longer, it protects you and other users through a focus on safety, and it ensures you enjoy the smoothest and most effective functional training possible.

You should:

  • Check the cables and pulleys at the beginning of every day or workout. If cables are frayed or pulleys are loose, don’t use the machine until the problem is fixed.
  • Clean the machine regularly – ideally weekly – to avoid a build-up of dust and grime affecting its (and your) performance.
  • Lubricate the pulleys in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions to enjoy the smoothest action possible.


Choosing a functional trainer for your home or commercial gym

How do you choose the right functional trainer? This guide can help, but in brief:

  • Begin by setting a budget. Functional trainers aren’t the cheapest pieces of gym equipment, but they are one of the most versatile, so they can replicate the workouts provided by a range of different machines to ultimately save you money.
  • Check how much space you have to spare, particularly if you’re adding a machine to your home gym. Remember that you’ll also need plenty of room around the trainer to do the exercise in.
  • Finally, you should choose a functional trainer from a gym equipment brand with a reputation for durability. One sure-fire way to get such a high quality functional trainer: buy it through GymQuip.


GymQuip: your functional training experts

At GymQuip we’ve spent the last three decades helping people fill their home and commercial gyms with the finest functional training equipment available.

As the home of one of Australia’s largest fitness showrooms, we offer an incredible range of functional trainers and cable machines from the world’s leading fitness brands, such as Force USA and Body-Solid.

Not in Canberra? Not a problem – our online store offers an even larger range of functional training equipment. We can deliver our products to your door Australia-wide, backed by a generous shipping and returns policy. And if you find one of our products cheaper elsewhere, we’ll beat that price by 5%!

Not sure what equipment you should choose? Get in touch and our friendly team will be happy to help!