Greetings!
Last week I talked about the "right" style of training and came to the conclusion that only through proper modifications, assessment, research and trial and error could you really ever find the right method. I also chimed in the conversation with the fact that I myself use a lot of functional training not only for my own workouts, but also with many of my clients. I wanted to talk a little about why I use this style of training keeping in mind that, I at no time proclaim that functional training is the best and most useful method of training because as we already discovered that would be a lie.
Looking at functional training purely from a everyday usage view, it seems that the results from this style of training offers a more direct application of the strength, balance, stability and cardiovascular endurance to everyday life as opposed to the traditional method. The days of bench pressing a house are no longer as important as being able to get out of bed ache free and be able to not worry about hurting yourself bending over to get the paper. Although great strength and endurance can be achieved through traditional training, it seems the best way to apply the gains from working out are to train the body as it it would be used in everyday situations, as a whole unit.
When getting out of a chair we generate a lot of muscular activity from the calves to the thighs (quads/hams) up through the hips/glutes, then the core activates to keep use stable as our hands, arms and upperbody begin the assist the legs (assuming your using the arms) all while the neck and certain shoulder muscles keep our head upright. That's just an overview of muscle activity that occurs in a basic movement such as that. I could detail the actual muscles that are being activated during that process, but it would have to be it's own blog. The point is just getting out of a chair, our body works as a team incorporating multiple muscles to accomplish this movement. If I want to make this harder for myself, then yes I would try not using as many muscle to assist, but our bodies like to naturally operate at it's most efficient and it works best when using the old '"strength through numbers" idea, because why would I only use half of the available resources to help me with my goal when I can utilize them all?
Through traditional training I could help train a person get out of a chair by strengthen their muscles and movement patterns through squats, dips, bench pressing, sit ups and many other exercises, which in theory can be very effective and to some may be the best method for them, but my professional opinion is that training individual movements (they are complex movements so they are still incorporating multiple muscles groups, but in a single movement) dose just that, train individual movements. I have no doubts that through the movements above a person could very well get in and out of a chair with ease overtime, but perhaps not at their greatest potential. As illustrated getting up from the chair incorporates, not only multiple muscles, but multiple joints and planer movements as well. As much as training one movement in one plane can be effective toward reaching the end goal, why not train multiple movements in multiple planes?
Through functional training we can take the same individual (assuming proper assessments have been conducted and proper muscle imbalances and anomalies have been corrected to be sure they are able to perform these exercises) and begin strengthening all the muscles that they are used to get out of a chair in multiple exercises all while training multi-planer balance, core stability and cardiovascular activity as well. Now, this individual can perform and tri-lunge (side to side to front) while throwing a medicine ball and maintaining an upright position for one set working multiple muscles as opposed to doing one set of squats, one set of bench press and one set of sit ups and achieve similar results. I say similar because obviously, the results will not be the same as another method of training, but if the end goal is being achieved more efficiently and appears to be getting the most bang for the buck, then it is all relative. With just this one exercise I have been able to incorporate not only the same muscle groups as the traditional style would, I am also working them all at once, which is how the body works everyday for almost every big movement we perform, thus training our body as we use it in the real world.
By training multiple muscle in multiple planes and incorporating stability, balance and other movement patterns into each exercise, functional training has become a very effective and adaptive method of training, which I for one view very highly of. It seems to not only get the most out of each exercise, but it's movements are more practical and adaptable into real world application in theory (again not saying it the right way). I still find and use many traditional methods of strength training quite regularly, when I feel it is needed, but functional training has emerged as my method of choice. Another reason I prefer functional training is it's non- reliance of big equipment and space friendly. The movements are easily modified and can be made more challenging by adding a simple variable. Finally, functional training is a whole lot of fun not to mention when working with a partner or group!
Thanks for reading!
"Action is the foundational key to all success"- Pablo Picasso
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