Are you doing your "Functional Training"?

One of the trends we are seeing in the fitness industry is the need to be doing your 'Functional Training' and seems to be exercises using certain pieces of kit such as bosu, kettle bells, TRX etc and challenging things like your stability.

A obvious example is instead of doing a dumbbell bicep curl, standing on a bosu or wobble board and doing the same dumbbell bicep curl has made it 'Functional' and therefore superior.

What does Functional mean?

Oxford dictionaries (online) defines functional as (edited);

• 
  

  1of or having a special activity, purpose, or task:

  a functional role
• relating to the way in which something works or operates:

                there are important functional differences between left and right brain     2designed to be practical and useful, rather than attractive:    a small, functional bathroom
The key word here is PURPOSE, every exercise you do should have a purpose relating to your physique objective.
Therefore, a dumbbell bicep, seated or standing, is functional for building bigger arms.  Running in the park is functional if you are competing in a marathon, standing on a Bosu is functional if you are trying to increase stabilising ability.
Hopefully everyone is doing their functional training, because if you are doing an exercise that is not appropriate to your goals then neither is the exercise functional, but worse, you are wasting your time!
Pick your exercises wisely, and use them appropriately.
Darren.