Neighborhood Ninja!

Murph,
What movements mimic what life throws at us on a daily basis?
- John

Tough question, John.

There is a whole movement, the functional training guys, who dedicate themselves to creating “creative” exercises to mimic life. However, I think your time in the gym would be better spent doing movements that carry over to strength in the real world—not mimic movements.

Stick with the basics and you will be able to tackle what life throws at you:

• squats
• clean and press
• presses (bench and overhead)
• pull-ups
• dips
• deadlifts
• rows
• RDL/Keystone
• pushups
• Turkish Get Up
• Burpees
• Sit-ups
• Prowler® and regular sprints
• Kettlebell swings

These will give you a good level of strength and conditioning and leave you prepared for LIFE.

- Taken from EliteFTS.com

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I found this little Q&A and loved it.  It's message is simple and may seem intuitive, but it's not to a lot of people.  There are those trying to obtain "functional fitness" who have gotten way too caught up in the mimicking life aspect of training to the point where they will do the most ridiculous movements.  Watch this gem for a prime example:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXNQS9JVI20

What makes a movement functional is not that it precisely mimics a movement that you will see in real life.  A movement is functional if it trains some aspect of fitness that will have a significant carryover to whatever physical task you plan to be engaging in and are training for.  Example: you will never perform anything that looks remotely like a snatch in real life or in any sport (except weightlifting and maybe strongman).  However, the power and speed that you will develop by becoming proficient at a movement like the snatch will carry over to many athletic endeavors.  Hence, a snatch would be considered "functional."