What Is Functional Strength Training

I hate the word functional when used with training. Functional training workouts have been the craze in the fitness industry for while now.

To the run-of-the-mill fitness trainer, functional strength training usually means having their client balance on a bosu ball while doing overhead dumbbell presses or some other ridiculous exercise that gets almost zero results.

My definition of functional is a little different. Functional is building strength that actually carries over into real life.

Functional is having the strength necessary to handle anything you may encounter in your life. When you have functional strength, you will be more athletic and it makes life a little easier (unless your friends are always asking you to help them move).

The Most Functional Strength Training Movements

As an athlete or strength addict, functional training should be a priority every time you go to the gym. Since you want real world strength as well as gym strength, functional strength exercises should be the staple of your program.

The most "functional" movements are heavy compound movements, body weight movements, and the strongman lifts.

All of these movements either move your body through space, use multiple muscles around multiple joints, move odd objects, or some combination of the three.

These functional training exercises are all you really need in your program. Focusing on the three main types of exercises above will give you all the strength you need.

The first main type of exercise in our functional strength training program, heavy compound movements, include lifts like the deadlift, squats, bench presses, weighted lunge variations, and rows.

The second type, body weight movements, include exercises such as pull-ups, chin-ups, push-up variations, dips, and one-legged squats. There are countless exercises that you can use in body weight training. There are also endless progressions in body weight movements. You may think that certain exercises are easy but there is always a harder variation. Some people get great results using only body weight movements.

The third type, strongman training, involves lifting odd objects. An odd object is basically anything that is heavy and is not perfectly balanced. Things like beer kegs filled with water or sand, and sandbags fall into this category. You can even do something simple like pushing your car. Strongman training is functional strength training in its truest form. At the very least, pick up some army duffel bags, fill them with sand or rocks, and add sandbag training to your program immediately.

Functional Strength Training in Your Program

When you combine these three exercise types into your program, you will get stronger, leaner and more functional at a very rapid pace. You will not only have gym strength but you will have real world strength too.

There are so many exercises that I see people wasting their time with. Exercises such as triceps kickbacks, concentration curls, leg extensions, and calf raises do little to give you any real strength inside and out of the gym. These exercises should be avoided by the serious athlete or lifter as they are pretty much worthless.

Focus your efforts on the exercises that have the most carryover into the real world and you will be a better athlete for it.

By focusing on heavy compound movements, body weight training, and strongman training, you really can't help but get strong and that's what functional strength training is all about.