Functional Strength Training is Gaining Popularity

by Gayle Jackson, CPT
Published: July 2006

If you’re looking to improve your swimming stroke, maximize your golf swing, develop a more powerful backhand, rake your yard without straining your back, or even walk up a flight of stairs without feeling winded, then you may want to consider functional strength training.

Functional strength training (FST) isn’t a new concept – it has been used in the rehabilitation field for decades. Physical therapists experiment with different ways to help patients regain function, and FST is one of their methods. By retraining muscles to work properly, FST helps many patients regain the strength and mobility they need to perform daily routines.

In addition to conventional weight training, many fitness experts now recommend FST as a way to enhance coordination, muscle strength and endurance to help people better meet the challenges of athletic performance as well as the physical demands of everyday living.

Gaining popularity in health clubs, FST is an integrated approach to strength training that focuses on exercising multiple muscles and joints instead of isolating a specific muscle (as with conventional strength training). FST emphasizes the body’s core muscles – those of the abdomen and back – as stabilizer muscles. A strong, solid core is vital for transferring weight and power from the lower body to the upper body, and vice versa. If your core lacks strength, your arms and legs have no anchor. Most fitness facilities now include stability balls and discs, foam rollers and balance boards as part of their conditioning equipment.

Functional strength training should supplement, rather than replace, traditional weight lifting. FST can bring variety to an exercise routine and has many benefits that transfer directly to most sports as well as everyday movements. The human body can perform a wide range of motions such as walking, jogging, running, sprinting, jumping, lifting, pushing, pulling, bending, twisting, turning, standing, starting, stopping, climbing and lunging. FST may help improve your body’s ability to perform these movements.

For optimum results, perform traditional strength training regularly (i.e., two to three times per week) and supplement your routine with FST. Incorporating FST into your fitness program may improve your overall well-being and help you achieve your fitness potential.