Discover What It Takes
To Functionally Optimize Your
STRENGTH TRAINING WORKOUTS
I have a few questions for you: "Are your current strength training workouts effective at burning fat, building your muscles, are they innovative and do they deliver results?" "Are your strength training efforts saving you time and money?" "Are you losing those un-wanted pounds?" "Is your current program clear, productive and easy to follow?" If the answer is "No", don't worry because you have come to the correct place.
Stop and think for a moment. Ask yourself what you really know about your strength training efforts.
Are you getting the absolute most you can out of your workouts or are you wasting time? One way to answer these questions is to analyze what you're really doing and and determine if it is really helping you reach your goals.
The reality is that it doesn't require a degree in rocket science to convince you that burning fat and strengthening your muscles requires the right information. The problem is there is just so much overwhelming information to absorb. It can take years of your precious time to sort through all that information to get where you want to be. So, let me save you some unnecessary frustration and your valuable time. Let's get right down to what matters the most by keeping it simple. Your body needs fuel (healthy nutrition), proper stimulus (strength training workouts), and restoration (rest and recovery) to be successful.
YOUR BODY HAS A BUILT IN MASTER DESIGN
Just stop and think about it for a moment. Your body really is designed for movement and reveals multiple capabilities built into its master design. It will always be a work in progress and is highly adaptable to a variety of conditions and stresses. If you really want to become more efficient and improve your movement capabilities for whatever reasons, you will need to have a movement approach (functional training) to program design. Functional training more closely mimics the movements one is trying to improve, whether it is picking up a child, running, or a golf swing.
Functional training is slowly making its way into the strength training mainstream and the latest craze to hit the strength and conditioning world. It is still relatively new to most exercise enthusiasts. To be honest, functional training is not a new concept; it has been around since the beginning of time. The main distinction between functional training and the mainstream traditional approach to training (a.k.a. bodybuilding), is that functional training trains movements, not isolated muscles.
THE CONCEPT OF "SPECIFICITY"
Functional training works on the concept of "specificity". The concept of "specificity" dictates that you get what you train for: if you train complex movements, you get better at moving; if you train one muscle, that muscle gets bigger. In simple terms, if one wants to get better and stronger at an activity, one would instinctively rehearse the activity, or at least parts of that activity. In sports we always say, the best training for a particular sport, is that sport! Although this is an oversimplification of the concept of functional training, it is its essence.
Training functionally will give anyone improved strength training workouts that they can use. Functionally, taking strength development from a movement and skill perspective rather than the perspective of isolated muscle training, develops neuromuscular efficiency (the body's ability to move efficiently as an integrated unit), which reduces injuries and improves performance. This training philosophy should be used for all populations, regardless of performance needs. So, make sure that your strength training workouts focus on the development of movement strength, not just muscle strength.
INTEGRATING FUNCTIONAL TRAINING
Lets look at some important considerations we need to take into account when we are integrating functional training into your strength training workouts. Functional training must:
1) Be specific, or mimic, the target activity. This includes all of the appropriate joints, as well as the speed and amplitude of movements. The principle of specificity dictates that you "train like you play/live".
2) Not be restricted or supported by external means. No machines or artificially stabilized positions. If you are going to isolate and support for the sake of improving isolated strength ("your means"), integrate it ASAP and regularly into its functional/integrated role ("your end").
3) Eventually integrate a significant amount of controlled chaos into the training. Sports, and life in general, are chaotic and unstable in nature. The more chaos an individual rehearses, the better they will react under unrehearsed-play conditions.
4) Deal with multi-joint, multi-planar movements. In real life, especially sports, movements do not occur along a single joint or a single plane of motion. Therefore, the kinetic chain must engage all three planes simultaneously.
5) Approach loading and development from the inside out. Load the system internally (i.e. bodyweight) first, then add external resistance. Develop the core of the body first, then develop the extremities...
Are You Ready To Begin
Developing Functional Strength..?
"TAKE YOUR STRENGTH TRAINING TO THE NEXT LEVEL"
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