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Join the Movement

More than a hot fitness trend, functional training can help teach your body to move more effectively in specific sports – as well as in everyday activities.

Rule 1: Train movements, not muscles
Rule 2: Training should be sport-specific
Rule 3: Train correctively
Rule 4: Train progressively
Whatever Works
The Catch
Resources

You may have heard the term "functional training" tossed around, and you may think you've got a handle on it. It's a type of athletic conditioning that uses balls, bands, kettlebells and other tools to strengthen "stabilizing muscles" that traditional strength-training exercises miss. Right? Not exactly.

Functional training is more than just a means for the fitness elite to enhance performance and reduce injury risk. It also improves the general health of the musculoskeletal system and enhances performance in everyday activities.

"The simplest definition of functional training is that it's the application of functional anatomy to training," says Michael Boyle, author of Functional Training for Sports: Superior Conditioning for Today's Athlete (Human Kinetics, 2004). In other words, it's resistance and flexibility training that's based on how the body works.

"When people think of functional training, they think of bands, gadgets and gimmicks," says Boyle. "Those things are some of the tools used within the system, but they are not the system." The methods commonly associated with functional training are secondary to the set of principles upon which it is based. These principles can be reduced to four basic rules:

Rule 1: Train movements, not muscles

Traditionally, strength and conditioning practices were dominated by a reductionist mindset that focused on the function of each muscle in isolation. In the 1990s, however, biomechanics researchers discovered that muscles don't work in isolation. In actuality, each body movement is like a software program operated by the brain's motor centers: Rather than tell each muscle what to do individually, they select the appropriate program, which contains integrated instructions for muscles throughout the body.

When reductionism reigned, a runner who wanted to make her stride more powerful might use a hamstring curl machine. But we now know that this approach doesn't work, because stride power comes from the coordinated use of muscle strength from the shoulders to the toes.

The same principle applies to every sports movement and activity. If you want to add strength, power or efficiency, add exercises that require your brain to select the appropriate "movement programs."

Rule 2: Training should be sport-specific

Different sports and activities emphasize different movements. The specific movements you use in functional training should simulate those that you use outside the gym. For example, if you're a softball player, you'll want to emphasize shoulder and torso rotation, along with other movements involved in throwing a ball and swinging a bat.

Rule 3: Train correctively

"During growth and development, we all learn how to do certain basic movements: squatting, lunging, bending, reaching and so forth," explains Lee Burton, PhD, ATC, CSCS, the program director for athletic training at Averett University in Danville, Va. "Every sports movement is built on these activities from everyday life. But as we gravitate toward our strengths, we become overdeveloped in certain areas and underdeveloped in others."

Functional training identifies and corrects these areas of underdevelopment. For example, swimmers often develop shoulder mobility and strength at the expense of shoulder stability. The larger, force-generating muscles that attach to the shoulder become overdeveloped relative to the smaller shoulder stabilizers, which become further weakened by the swimmer's continual efforts to increase his or her range of motion. Rehabbing weak shoulder stabilizers may include exercises such as the stability-ball pushup. The result is a reduced risk of shoulder injuries and an even more powerful swim stroke.

Rule 4: Train progressively

Functional training is often associated with exotic (and highly advanced) movements, such as performing squats while balancing on a Swiss ball. But when practiced correctly, functional training begins with basic movements designed to address major weaknesses, and then progresses toward more advanced, sport-specific actions. Basic modes of movement progression include:

Singleplane > Multiplanar
Isometric > Dynamic
Slow > Fast
Nonresisted > Resisted
Stable surface > Unstable surface

Whatever Works

Though functional training is not defined by any particular method, there are certain training methods it frequently employs – because they work.

Single-Limb and Alternating-Limb Movements: Traditional strength exercises such as the machine leg extension and the barbell biceps curl involve moving both legs or both arms together. But because single- and alternating-limb movements are more common in sports and everyday activities, they are also more common in functional training. The forward lunge is a basic example.

Multiplanar Movements: "There are three planes of motion," explains Burton. "The frontal plane involves side-to-side movement, the sagittal plane involves forward and backward movements, and the transverse plane involves rotational movement." Most traditional strength exercises are done in the sagittal plane, but real-world body movements are often multiplanar. "In functional training, we try to break people out of this sagittal-dominant way of training," says Burton. A good example of a multiplanar exercise is the wood chop.

Balance Elements: There is no balance requirement in traditional strength exercises (think bench press). But most sports movements and everyday activities do involve balance. Take running, where only one foot is in contact with the ground at a time. Functional training makes frequent use of exercises with a balance component, such as the single-leg deadlift.

Dynamic Warm-Ups: In functional training, the standard warm-up of light activity (such as jogging) is usually replaced with a warm-up comprising dynamic mobility and flexibility movements such as the straight-leg deadlift walk. These movements improve upon conventional warm-ups, as research has shown that they more effectively increase active joint range of motion and sport-specific movement efficiency.

Core Training: "In every movement, some parts of your body need to be stable and other parts need to be mobile," says Burton. Many people have inadequate stability in the hips, pelvis and lower spine because they cannot properly activate important stabilizing muscles such as the deep abdominals. Functional training relies heavily on core-strengthening exercises to teach the neuromuscular system to properly activate these muscles while performing alternating-limb movements.

Variable Speed: Most people perform traditional strength exercises at the same slow speed. But sports movements often involve high-speed muscle action, so functional training incorporates high-speed exercises such as the single-leg box jump.

The Catch

There is one caveat to functional training: Doing it effectively requires some specialized knowledge – and practice. Burton suggests working with a functional-training expert to begin with. In selecting a trainer, look for specific education, certification and experience in functional training. The more specific a trainer's experience to your sport or special needs, the better.

Matt Fitzgerald, a certified sports nutritionist, edits the sports nutrition Web site www.poweringmuscles.com and is the author of several books for runners and triathletes, including Performance Nutrition for Runners (Rodale, 2006).


Resources

BOOKS
Functional Training for Sports: Superior Conditioning for Today's Athlete by Michael Boyle (Human Kinetics, 2004)

Functional Training for Athletes at All Levels: Workouts for Agility, Speed and Power by Jim Radcliffe (Ulysses Press, 2006)

WEB
www.michaelboyle.biz – Visit author Michael Boyle's Web site for articles on functional training and more.

www.performbetter.com – Click on "Training Zone" and find information and techniques for a variety of functional-training exercises.

DVD
Magnificent Mobility: 10 Minutes to Better Flexibility, Performance and Health by Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson; available at www.ericcressey.com.

Functional Training: Breaking the Bonds of Traditionalism by Juan Carlos Santana; available at www.ihpfit.com.