Functional Training: The Buzzword of 21st Century Personal Training

While different personal trainers use different training modules to create "functional training," most miss the point entirely. Functional training is not simply balance training, though training balance is a part of functional training. Similarly, functional training does not mean using a different medicine ball, stability ball, balance board or Bosu in each exercise. Instead, functional training simply means the training is useful, that it has function.

In Paul Chek's Movement that Matters, he lists the six primal movements as squat, lunge, bend, twist, pull and push. True functional training is training which trains these six movement patterns, not isolated muscles.

When I started lifting weights as a high school basketball player, the muscle-head body builder who acted as a personal trainer put me on a bunch of machines. Unfortunately, too many personal trainers continue to use a body building emphasis when training clients, regardless of the client's goals and needs. I overheard a Fitness Director orienting a new hire at the gym where I train (not where I am employed) and she told the new trainer that all new members are put on a routine which includes five machines: leg curl, leg extension, abdominal machine, shoulder press and one other I did not hear.

Why? What movements are these clients training? Do most new members join a health club to increase the size and definition of their quadriceps?

Most frustrating for me is when these "trainers" give the same routine to high school athletes seeking to improve athleticism; the workouts these trainers use do nothing to improve overall athleticism because they isolate muscles; they do not train functional movements: no sport movement requires an athlete to lay on his stomach and kick his heel to his butt in a slow, controlled fashion. Furthermore, these machines are potentially dangerous because they are built for an adult physique and often not biomechanically correct for young athletes.

Rather than using the five machines, a beginning, generic workout should start with the six movement patterns. Each client should do some sort of squat, lunge, bend, twist, pull and push. To decide which exact exercise to use, the trainer must test and evaluate the client. Start with a body weight squat, a body weight lunge and a push-up. These three tests will give a trainer an idea of where to start.

Simply using these six movements, adjust the exercises based on the client's goals. To train functionally, the training must be useful and have function. Therefore, it should relate to the client's life. A 30 year old mother of three trains differently than a nineteen year old college basketball player.

A mother of three young children likely bends and lifts her children numerous times each day. Therefore, strengthening the core through bending and lifting patterns is functional training. Just with the six movement patterns, a very basic routine could be: dumbbell squat to an overhead press (squat, press); straight-leg deadlift (bend); front lunge with a medicine ball twist (lunge, twist); and a bent over row (pull).

These four exercises are functional, as they mimic the movements the mother likely uses on a daily basis, and all four train the core: in each lift, the core acts as a stabilizer allowing the extremities to lift the weights. For instance, in a bent over row, one bends over so her torso is near parallel with the ground. In this position, the core stabilizes to allow the back and arms to lift the weights. Without a stable core, the arms and back cannot exert enough force to lift the weights.

Functionally training a basketball player using these six movements may require different exercises. While a mother must strengthen the core to bend and lift, a basketball player must move quickly and explosively. Three exercises to combine these six movements would be a lunge and medicine ball throw (lunge, twist), a clean and jerk (bend, pull, push) and a front squat (squat). The medicine ball throw and the clean and jerk are explosive moves, while the squat and lunge train the bilateral and unilateral strength necessary to play basketball. Also, these moves, again, train the core through maintaining the proper posture throughout the lift and enabling force to be transferred from the lower body to the upper body.

Notice, none of these exercises required the client to (1) do a sit-up; (2) sit down; or (3) use some new age apparatus, like a Bosu ball. In the gym where I train, functional training is a buzzword and an excuse to put senior citizens on stability balls, Bosu balls and wobble boards. While these modules may have their place, I know my grandmother's greatest need, and greatest difficulty physically is simply standing up. When she stands up, she is on level ground. However, from using walkers and wheelchairs to make life easier when getting around, her legs simply are not strong enough. And, getting up from a seated position is nothing more than a squat.

However, rather than doing different squats with the senior citizens, the personal trainers have them balance on a Bosu ball and do other exercises. But, they never squat. Similarly, while a deadlift may be the most functional lift possible, as few exercises are more useful than bending over to pick up something, nobody at my gym ever does a deadlift. Rather than squat and deadlift, people do leg extensions. The only times most people do a leg extension is when a doctor does an involuntary reaction test by hitting the knee cap during a physical or when lifting their shoe to allow a shoe salesman to check the fit. Otherwise, almost all movement for almost all people occurs when their feet are on the ground. So, why not train with feet on the ground?

Functional training, conceptually, is a great concept as it replaces the pervasive bodybuilding mindset and trains people to function better in real life, which is the true goal of a trainer. However, functional training, in practice, often goes beyond function and usefulness to find new, innovative ways to do an exercise. And, for most people, these "extras" are not important and reduce the usefulness of the exercises. Training balance as part of an overall fitness regimen is important; however, balance is only part of the training, not the entire training. Functional training goes beyond balance training to train what is useful to the client, which are everyday movements for most people and athletic movements for athletes. Functional training has function, not just a lot of extra toys.