Strength and Functional Training

It has long been my personal position that athletes of all types and all levels can benefit from a well designed and well executed strength training program.  I have repeatedly seen this to be the case in my own athletic endeavors stemming in team sports.  Regardless of what sport I was playing at any given time, weight and strength training were a part of our overall training programs, and for good reason.  Strength training builds strength obviously, but depending on the type and design of the strength training program, athletes can improve balance, coordination, flexibility, power, speed and endurance.  One area of strength training that has been gaining popularity over the last 5 years is Functional Training (although many of the movements have been around for a long, long time).

Functional Training is focused on building strength in the muscles we use to perform daily functions like carrying groceries, walking up and down stairs, chopping wood, shoveling the driveway, etc.  Training in this way makes sense in that the strength gains made are applicable to the areas that we need strength in.  If you think about it this way, although the bench press is a great weight training movement, I would not say that it necessarily helps a person that is looking to gain strength needed for their job as a fireman (I know someone out there will argue with that example but I am certain you get the point).  Think of functional training as specific to the sport or life that a person lives.  I read a neat phrase yesterday that said learn to train the “go” muscles, not the “show” muscles.  That pretty much sums up functional training. 

So what are some Functional Training moves?  There are literally hundreds of functional movements, and it fact I would say you can make an argument that most all exercises can in some ways be considered functional movements, but for the sake of this writing, we’ll just name a few of the more commonly used ones.  Keep in mind that Functional Training can involve weights and weight machines, and often used resistance bands, medicine balls, kettle bells, ropes, pull-up bars, plyometric “jump” boxes or platforms and stability balls.  Think of it like this, I would say the primary mover muscles used in swimming are the shoulders, the legs and the back.  Secondary muscles would be the arms, the hips and the core muscles.  In order to set up a functional training program for swimming, I would recommend a person focus of strengthening movements that target both primary and secondary muscles used.  I would say pull-ups and other pulling movements would be beneficial for the back muscles.  Overhead presses and lateral raises with kettle bells or resistance bands would be good choices for the shoulders, but also add some movements that target the rear muscles of the shoulders and the rotator cuff muscles for balance.  Most times injuries can occur in the shoulders resulting from a lack of strength in particular muscles within the shoulders.  For legs, squats are always a go-to exercise and leg presses work well.  I just read an article talking about becoming a faster pool swimmer and how a person can tap in the “free” speed that comes from a strong kick-off from the sides of the pool.  This particular article mentioned squats as a movement to help a swimming increase the power they generate from kicking off the sides during each lap.  So it’s actually pretty easy to develop a functional program if you think about it.  Just look at which muscles you’re using for a particular function, and then find exercises that strengthen those muscles, then start performing those exercises!

It’s also worth mentioning that many exercise that require balancing, like One-Leg Romanian Squats using a bench and dumbbells, you work on balance and strengthen the muscles that are involved in balancing yourself during the exercise.  This improves balance obviously, but can translate into more power and agility, which are both vitally important in sports performance.  So do some Internet searching on Functional Training and Sport Specific Strength Training programs to take your game to the next level.  I have stressed the point several times in other blogs, but I’ll say it again here:  Strength training is a must for any of us looking to be competitive in any sport or recreational activity.  Whether you do resistance band training, weight training, power yoga, Cross Fit or any other type of strength training, it should be considered just as important as flexibility and specific sports training!