Consumption Junction: What's Your Function?

Just like "Jumbo Shrimp" and "Government Organization," the term "Functional Training" as it's used in most gyms and fitness magazines is an oxymoron. You may disagree, but there is nothing even remotely functional about a single leg deadlift and overhead fly with a leg lift while holding pink dumbbells! And unless you plan on playing tennis while standing on a mini-trampoline, using one during training probably doesn't make much sense, either.

In fact, this study clearly demonstrated that training on an unstable surface might actually decrease your performance in sports and athletics (when compared to training on a stable surface). If you look closely, you'll notice that Eric Cressey was the lead author of the study (it was his Master's thesis at UConn), and I'm pretty sure that he knows a thing or two about training for performance...just not about choosing teams to root for.

This will make more sense if you understand the Principle of Specificity. Specificity states that in order to become better at a task, you must practice that specific task. For instance, if you want to become a better free-throw shooter in basketball, you have to specifically practice free-throw shooting! If you decide that you want to practice your free-throws while standing on a Bosu, then you'll only become better at shooting free throws while standing on a Bosu. This is easy to see if you consider how we learn from a neuromuscular standpoint, which I wrote about in this post.

Instead of throwing together some random circus training and calling it "functional," you should instead think like a coach and consider what your particular needs and activities are. In other words, what is your particular "function," and how can your training actually help you to accomplish this? Just as importantly, what can you do in the gym to help you to counteract the potential negative impacts of what you do every day, keeping you healthy and functioning optimally?

For instance, if I'm working with one of my Rugby teams, they will probably perform Olympic weightlifting as part of their workouts to develop power and explosive force which they can use on the field. If I am training a secretary, I will make sure to include plenty of rowing and scapular retraction exercises as well as core postural training in order to undo the affects of sitting at a computer for 8 or more hours each day. If I am training a firefighter, I will utilize exercises that duplicate the job tasks of a firefighter with activities such as sandbag carries and even sledgehammer side-swings into a tire (think about carrying a person from a burning building or breaking open a burning door with an axe).

...And if I should ever find myself in the position of training a Professional Bosu Basketball League player...well, that's when I'll take the Bosu out of the aerobics studio and incorporate it into my programming!

Don't get me wrong: there's nothing inherently bad about unstable surface training...you just need to understand why you would choose to use that form of training. Hopefully, you now recognize that any exercise can be labeled as "functional" depending on what specific activity need it addresses, and not just because someone happens to be doing a handstand on a stability ball while he/she is exercising.

Depending on your goals (weight loss, muscle gain, athletic performance, etc), you can adjust your sets and reps to produce the results that you're looking for (you can have a look at my Men's Fitness article Long Term Fitness for how to adjust your workouts for your particular needs). But always choose your exercises according to your specific tasks and individual needs.

In other words: make functional training actually functional!

-Jonathan