I find the following to be worthwhile resources in different ways and for various reasons:
Exercise is Medicine –initiative of the American College of Sports Medicine. Not function-specific but a good starting place for embarking on any general exercise program.
Go4Life— targeted at aging adults, this National Institute of Aging/National Institute of Health website has helpful, easy to access information about exercise and fitness. It also allows you to maintain a personal account to store specific exercise routines, goals, progress, etc.
Gary Gray Institute— very informative functional exercise-oriented site for professionals and casual users alike, nice collection of demonstrative videos on unique functional exercises. Gray has really been at the forefront of the emphasis on function. Besides, how often can someone just rearrange the letters of their first name to form their last name…
Low Back Disorders, by Stuart McGill, PhD [book]– for those in the field or the motivated lay person…this book has a lot of interesting and very relevant information regarding the functional mechanics of the body from the guy who actually did much of the research. Dr. McGill does a good job translating the science into “ok-now-what-do-i-do-with-that-information” recommendations.
The Workout, by Gunnar Peterson [book]– a great collection and methodical progression of exercises with plenty of variations and excellent instruction throughout. Helpful discussions on some of the peripheral aspects of shaping up, (e.g. nutrition, mental prep, etc) are a bonus. Peterson keeps the focus relevant and practical, a real feat among training books. One particularly nice aspect….his wry sense of humor, which is all over this book.
Livestrong.com— comprehensive health and wellness website with a huge volume of user-friendly information (including some articles by me). Very extensive in scope, so requires some sorting through and attention to sources.
ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running, by Danny Dreyer [book]– all about the walking/running method which has been noticeably increasing in popularity. The associated website is particularly helpful for the videos which make understanding the concepts discussed in the book a lot easier.
Check back for others…