What is functional training?
By: Steven Bazzea

Functional training earns its name because it develops proprioception - the body’s ability to sense where it is in space - by drawing on exercises that mimic the dynamic movements where balance is required. Mimicking of dynamic and fluid movement allows exercises to expand beyond the limited range of motion exercises inherent in weight machines. With functional exercises the aim is to maintain your centre of gravity over its own base. This will involve both a neuromuscular and a stability requirement in an integrated training programme.

If one has an injury it is obviously advisable to commence the rehabilitation process with isolated resistance training machines and stationary bicycles. Once the injury has cleared it is important to move from isolation to integration as soon as possible. The reason is that this is how we move in real life: we don’t bend and pick something up repeatedly in isolation. In dynamic real-life movement, there is constant integration and synergy of the neuromuscular system.

A second integrative aspect of functional training is the dimension of athletic activity or training in a sport-like manner. Sport provides a microcosm of real life; so functional training allows you to maximize your abilities in an integrated way. Training with free weights, your own body weight, bands, balls and balance beams will enhance your outdoor sports and/or other every day activities.

Finally, functional training fits in with personalised goal setting. Goals and aims for exercise programmes differ from person to person; functional training sharpens the system to better cope with our individual challenges. This applies to the entire spectrum of society: from the rugby player training for the forthcoming season, the martial artists using the stability ball to improve his grappling skills in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, the weekend hiker who has improved her balance in walking with a heavy back pack, to the elderly gentleman who no longer has problems with his daily activities of stepping up, sitting down, reaching forward, and so on.

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