Thoughts on Functional Training

Functional training is the most effective method of training that strength coaches and personal trainers can employ with all clients, athletes and non-athletes alike.

The most natural – and obvious – way to train for an activity is to perform the activity itself.  Using a sport as an example, playing lacrosse is functional training/sports specific training in its purest form.  All other methods of functional training as it relates to lacrosse, or any other sport, result from the sport.

Athletes who train in a functional environment will be better able to handle the rigors of their sport.  Distance runners must run long distances; baseball players need to sprint at full effort in different directions and be able to do so from a variety of starting positions and running speeds; basketball players must be able to sprint, jump, recover and repeat, and so on.

Football players should not be going on long jogs and marathon runners don’t need to spend a lot of time running 20-yard sprints, shuttle runs or performing tackling drills.  It’s ridiculous to have a marathon runner hit a blocking sled, but it’s just as ridiculous for a football athlete to perform distance runs.

Of course there are times where athletes can cross-train and have fun trying methods of training that aren’t a major component of their competitive lives, but certainly not a lot of time should be spent on this kind of training, and it isn’t done in preparation for competition.  Members of the regular gym-going public can benefit from adopting the methods of preparation used by athletes, as well.

While the strength coach/personal trainer should strive to make the training environment as functional as possible – for all clients – the goal should NOT be to try to replicate in the gym the exact conditions encountered during competition.  For instance, working rotational movements in the gym using lighter weights is a good idea for baseball and lacrosse players, but trying to recreate the swing of a bat or shooting motion using a heavy implement is bad.  Athletes get enough skill work during their sport – the purest form of functional training – and don’t need to mimic these actions in the gym.

Functional training should be a major part of the training programs of athletes and non-athletes alike.

Related Posts:

1. Functional Training is the Key to Efficient and Effective Workouts
2. Sledgehammer Training for Lacrosse
3. Four Reasons the Little League World Series is Awful to Watch
4. The Balance Ball is An Extremely Overrated Piece of Equipment
5. Strength Training for Triathletes