Functional training has been gaining in popularity the last 3-5 years as many gym-goers are turning to swiss balls, medicine balls, and other tools in an effort to find the latest technique to perfect their bodies. Fitness enthusiasts are using swiss balls for ab crunches, medicine ball throws, and tubing for a variety of exercise spice-ups. Many trainers are teaching new functional modalities to their not-so-ready clients and late-night info-commercials are advertising BOSUs and stability balls to participate in the upstart of functional based training. How did it become like this? Why did we let it get this far?

There are skeptics in the fitness world that believe functional training is a fleeting state of uncanny 1-legged exercises, cable wood chops, and ball push-ups. There are bodybuilders that believe that functional training has no place for hypertrophic needs, and the housewife who thinks she is not capable of performing single-legged deadlifts (SLDL).

If she only knewshe performs them everyday.

What exactly is functional training? Is it limited to the Swiss ball and exercises on one leg? Not at all. According to Mike Boyle, in his new book Functional Training for Sports, he defines functional training as purposeful training. Many athletes and coaches mislabel functional training as sport-specific, which implies that certain movements and patterns are specific to individual sports. In fact, functional training should be more accurately represented as sport-general training. Functional training looks at the commonalities of movement and reinforces them. Many misinformed argue that functional training is only necessary for the athlete--that only athletes run, sprint, jump, push, rotate, change direction, and pull. Not so. Our bodies have the ability to perform all of those actions.

We lose the movement because we dont train for the movement.

Movement Fixes Everything

How does functional training enhance movement? Functional training focuses primarily on multi-joint movements; therefore, it is key to note that multi-joint movements integrate muscle groups into patterns. These patterns are created everyday in our lives: walking upstairs, carrying groceries, picking up dropped keys, carrying children, crossing the street, getting out of a parked car, and so forth. It is no surprise that most orthopedic injuries occur while performing normal activities of daily living outside the gym.

How many times has a back spasm hit you while shoveling snow?

A painful knee while wrestling with your children?

Or a pulled calf during your sprint across the street?

Well what about the office worker who is never active and needs a safe exercise program? Proponents of machine-based training argue that machine-based exercises are safer, however, machine based training will develop tone and strength, but it lacks in proprioceptive input (internal sensory feedback about body position and movement) and the lack of stabilization will more than likely lead to greater incidence of injuries outside the gym. Traditional resistance exercises are usually performed along a single plane. The use of machines further restricts the movement in an effort to isolate a muscle. However, humans rarely move one muscle at a time along a single plane. Even when the displacement of mass occurs along a linear vector, the joint movements that allow this linear displacement of mass to occur involves all planes of motion (i.e. sagittal, frontal, and transverse).

Modern science tells us that the brain does not recognize individual muscle activities because it doesnt need to. Instead, the brain looks at movement patterns and creates coordination between all muscles needed. Bodybuilders tend to isolate muscles in the pursuit of hypertrophy and isolated muscle development does not typically play a major role in motor pattern development. Because bodybuilders tend to isolate muscles for bulk and strength, size and symmetry, they lack the appropriate movement patterns. The goal of functional training is to not only change how the body looks, but to improve how the body moves. Muscles will develop naturally through progressive resistance loads as different movement patterns are worked, which is why most athletes look like they have performed some bodybuilding.

How is Movement Improved?

The basic principle of functional training is joint stabilization. Picture this: You are moving your refrigerator a few inches so you can mop underneath. If the refrigerator is in the middle of the floor, you are going to have a hard time moving it. If you are in between the refrigerator and the wall, and you can anchor your foot against the wall and push more forcefully to move the refrigerator. Depending on your strength and current fitness level, it will move easier. Why? Because you have been stabilized.

Imagine your body is a joint; lets say the shoulder, or more specifically, the gleno-humeral joint. The wall represents the muscles of the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers. Once resistance is initiated (moving the refrigerator), the humerus must be stabilized in order to produce enough force through the motion. Once the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers secure the head of the humerus (foot against the wall), the prime movers can create the force to move the object

The kinetic chain is designed to manipulate variable forces from a multitude of directions to effectively produce movement. Functional training focuses on improving movement patterns to decrease alterations or deviations in the alignment of a joint within the kinetic chain, which can affect the quality of movement and the perpetuation of faulty movement patterns.

Working in unstable environments allows the intrinsic stabilization mechanisms to produce joint and postural stability, allowing you to enhance your stabilization strength and neuromuscular efficiency. Performing exercises in a proprioceptively enriched environment (unstable), the body is forced to recruit more muscles to stabilize itself and thus intra- and inter- muscular coordination is enhanced. The more proprioception your training provides, the more the body will learn how to interpret it and use it. The greater the ability to use proprioceptive information, the body will have greater ability in controlling new complex and diverse information. The greater control you have over new and diverse environments, the better you can perform and less chance of injury. Once the ability of the neuromuscular system allows all muscles to work together in optimal levels of motor unit recruitment and synchronization, then the rate of force production and maximal acceleration improves. Athletes have tremendous skill and body awareness because of their movement-improvement training, and this translates to overall optimum performance in or outside the competitive arena.

Why functional train? Mostly every task you perform outside of sitting at a table, car, or lying in bed, is performed standing. For the body to execute movements in a standing position, every muscle has to be activated: from the soleus, biceps femoris, glutes, multifidus, transverse abdominis, erector muscles, sternocleidomastoid, and numerous others. If all these muscles are involved with a simple task of placing a box on top of a shelf, why not train the muscles together simulating that movement? What if the goal is fat loss? Fitness enthusiasts that have a goal of fat loss can benefit from functional training because when exercises are performed in a proprioceptively enriched environment (unstable), the body is forced to recruit more muscles to stabilize itself and thus more calories are expended.

Who Needs It?

Our body is created to properly run like a machine. It is through uncontrollable tangible and intangible factors that our bodies tend to lose their efficiency: lifestyle, nutrition, medical conditions, occupation, and genetics all play a role in our ongoing developmentalong with improper exercise technique. There is a place for movement improvement training in anyones workout. The undying desire for a better-looking physique cosmetically goes beyond fat loss, big arms, and tight butts. The natural human physique can look strong, healthy, and balanced if it is trained how it is to function properly. If you sit, walk, bend, lift, turn, run, throw, kneel, sprint, step, push, pull, or lie, you can benefit from functional training. Functional training is movement improvement training. Athletes and coaches have been using it for years and making it specific to their sport. Now with proper instruction, you can use it to prepare for the sport of life.

References and Sources

Boyle, Michael. 2003. Functional Training For Sports. Champaign, IL.: Human Kinetics.

Cook, Gray. 2003. Athletic Body in Balance. Champaign, IL.: Human Kinetics.

Clark, Michael. 1999. National Academy of Sports Medicine: Personal Training Certification Course. [Online] www.nasm.org September 24, 2003

Santana, Juan Carlos. 2000. Functional Training: Breaking the Bonds of Traditionalism Companion Guide. Boca Raton, FL.: Optimum Performance Systems