The first lecture I gave at the Sunshine Coast Fitness Summit was on the training method called Functional Training. At the outset, I stated that any form of exercise is to be encouraged, whether is be deemed functional or not. That being said, I argued that Functional Training has several limitations when compared to traditional strength training. These limitations might be considered when designing strength training programs. Here are my main points:
1. Functional training has any number of definitions, so mine was that is means sports-specific or movements encountered in everyday life-specific. However, most people use the term to mean exercises that are performed on unstable surfaces - and that is where I directed the majority of my comments;
2. Defined as a term of specificity, it's a pretty meaningless term, as everyone involved in physical training - whether it be athlete or fitness enthusiast - must do exercises that are simple and easy, either to develop basic strength and control early in their training programs (ie a novice) or to give the neuromuscular system a break to avoid over-training (ie an athlete). in time, novices progress to more advanced lifts to challenge more muscle tissue and athletes use more exercises that related to their sport. So in reality, over the course of the training career, exercises must be periodized to include non-specific and specific exercises. Hence, chosing exercises that are only functional severely limits the amout of choices a trainee has;
3. Many have argued that for the strength benefit to transfer to everyday life or sport, exercises must closely resemble those movements. For example, squatting transfers to sitting on a chair and standing cable press transfers to sports such as shot put. This, of course, relates to the Principle of Specificity. But this Principle does not mean that exercises that do not resemble the sports or every-day life movement have no transferrance. For example, studies performed on the elderly have shown that simple machine-based exercises (non-functional) have an incredible ability to improve functional strength, such as getting out of a chair, stair climbing and carrying bags. All strength exercises improve the functional of skeletal muscle and are therefore 'functional'.
4. Health and fitness benefits are not limited to functional exercises. Improvements in bone density, insulin sensitivity, sarcopenia, hypertension, depression, CVD, muscle strength, power, rate of force development, and hypertrophy have all been clearly demonstrated with traditional strength training.
5. Several recent studies have shown that unstable training reduces the ability to generate strength, power and velocity. Reductions of 60% in strength seem to be the norm. As such, the load lifted is an insignificant stimulus to overload the prime movers and create health and fitness benefits.
6. Unstable training can be dangerous and create overuse injuries. 2 studies have shown this with the knee is volley ball and soccer players. Besides, standing on a Swiss ball or BOSU ball forces you to squat bow legged. This is not a particularly clever posture.
7. Observation of top level athletes reveal a strong reliance on traditional strength training exercises. This is the case even when force requirements occur from standing and running positions. For example, wrestlers and shot putters can routinely bench press 300kg, skiiers can front squat over 200kg etc. This tells me that the primary aim of the weights room is to develop the strength and power of the prime movers involved in sport or every day life and sport and every day life takes care of the transferance.
This is a very brief summary of a 90 minute talk.
Tony,
Avalon, Sydney
