The task is to find the maximum and minimum elements in a list without utilizing any built-in functions. 

def find_max_min(numbers):
    max_num = min_num = numbers[0]
    for num in numbers[1:]:
        if num > max_num:
            max_num = num
        elif num < min_num:
            min_num = num
    return max_num, min_num

# Example usage
numbers = [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, 2, 6]
max_value, min_value = find_max_min(numbers)
print("Max:", max_value, "Min:", min_value)

Let’s break down the above implementation :

1. Function Definition: The function find_max_min takes a single argument, numbers, which is expected to be a list of numerical values.
2. Initialization: The first element of the list is assigned to both max_num and min_num.
3. Iteration: A for loop iterates through the list starting from the second element, comparing each number to the current maximum and minimum.
4. Comparison Logic: Conditional statements update the maximum and minimum values based on comparisons.
5. Return Statement: The function returns a tuple containing the maximum and minimum values.