Functional exercise is a term that gets thrown around loosely – it’s hard to know exactly what a person means when they say they practice functional fitness. In my case, the term functional exercise conjured up triggering images of balancing on one leg on a BOSU ball while performing a shoulder press for a long time. It wasn’t until I came to better understand what functional fitness is at its core that I began to appreciate why it can be so beneficial to those practicing it when done well.