What is “Functional” Training?

It is everything and it is nothing. It really depends on what your definition of “functional” is. As the human species our only function is to continue the species. As an athlete it is to gain skill and physical attributes for that sporting discipline. As a sedentary person it would be to remain in a sta-tionary position for extended periods of time. As a child it would be learn new skills.

As a strength coach one of our first priorities when working with a new population is to first identify the needs of that population. Without that vital piece of information we cannot pull together any form of progressive structure. We need to know the duration of the activity, the dominant energy system within that total time frame, the movements required, the variables involved, potential injury sites etc. All of this information is used to help us piece together a ‘functional” approach to training.

Justification

If you can justify your reason for your exercise selection then you are 95% on the road to success. If your answer to “why are you doing single leg deadlifts?” is simple “get stronger hamstrings” then that is a sound response to the question. If when asked why you a performing a single leg squat on a bosu ball whilst juggling milk bottles and reciting the national anthem your response is “it’s functional” you may need to rethink your training methods.

I maintain that every exercise will have its place in someones training programme at some point, somewhere in the world. The art of this is finding what belongs in your training programme and giving it justification. Honestly “because i like doing it” is a great answer, however use this answer sparingly.

Whether you write your own programme or you work with someone else to write your programme try this next time. Consider your chosen sport or activity, break down the movements involved and then include beneficial exercises into your programme.

Lets analyse one briefly now, 10-pin bowling. The total game time is on average 60 minutes with 4 players. So we need to have an aerobic base level of conditioning. Each strike attempt is 1 to 2 bouts of intense movement with 1 minute rest in-between, followed up by 6 to 8 minutes rest so we need to do some a-lactate recovery work. The movements involved are shoulder extension and flexion and single leg lunges so we know we need positional strength, unilateral strength and a solid base of bilateral strength.

This short exercise may appear to be trivial but this is the foundation and the starting place from building up a more in-depth and “functional” systems approach to athletic development.

Coach,

Ben Newton