Over the past decade, progressive fitness professionals have embraced the idea of “functional training.” As we continue to refine and expand our understanding of this philosophy, particularly as we incorporate functional training into our own workouts and the programs we develop for our clients, our definition and description of functional training have become increasingly complex.
At a basic level, functional training can be defined as training that helps improve function. In this broad context, function generally means the body’s natural, effective, and efficient way to work, move, and perform physical tasks—in other words, the way the body was designed, intended, or architected to function.
Initially, “function” was viewed from a broad, big-picture perspective, with gross motor movements such as walking, running, sitting, standing, pulling, pushing, turning, and rotating in mind. With these fundamental movements as a foundation, we began to identify and describe exercises that we believed were more functional in nature and others that were less functional. More functional exercises were often characterized as “multi-joint,” “multi-planar,” “ground-based,” and “self-stabilized,” further defined as follows:
- Multi-Joint exercises heavily involve more than one joint. A squat, jump, or lunge, for example, contrasts with many common machine exercises that may target some of the same muscles and joints, such as the leg extension, leg curl, or seated abductor and adductor machines.
- Multi-Planar exercises either involve movement through different planes of motion or resist forces that would otherwise cause movement through different planes of motion.
- Ground-Based exercises are generally performed standing and therefore require a degree of balance, proprioception, and self-stabilization.
- Self-Stabilized exercises require the body to stabilize itself or specific regions or joints during the execution of the exercise.
However, many fitness professionals now program exercises intended to promote or improve the function of a specific body region, muscle, or joint. For example, we may have our clients stand on a BAPS board and isolate various ankle movements (dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, inversion, eversion, circumduction), or we might include various isometric, plank-type exercises. These exercises may not be performed standing, may not involve multi-planar movement, and may not involve movement at all, yet we would still argue that they fall under the umbrella of functional training.
So “functional training” is not so easy to define. Different exercises can fall somewhere along a spectrum from less to more functional in nature. A six-week training program using the seated leg press may help an elderly person improve his ability to get up and down from a chair. Therefore, one might reasonably argue that the leg press is a functional exercise. However, a six-week program of body weight or assisted squats may result in even greater improvement in the client’s ability to get up and down from a chair. Therefore, perhaps the leg press—being neither ground-based, significantly self-stabilized, nor multi-planar—is at the lower end of the “functional” spectrum, while the squat is at the higher end.
Ultimately, an exercise is not inherently “functional” or “non-functional.” Its value depends on the function we are trying to improve and the individual performing it. At 1TO1 FITNESS, our trainers always aim to help clients achieve their health, fitness, aesthetic, and athletic goals while continually seeking opportunities to improve function.