Functional Training! One of the big buzz-words in fitness over the last few years. I think there seems to be a lot of confusion as to what exactly functional training is so I thought I’d give my take on it all.

Functional Training as I understand it, is using exercises that are as relative as possible to an individual’s everyday movement patterns, sport or occupation in order to progressively develop that person’s strength and ability to perform those movements/tasks more efficiently and safely. Another way of putting it would be conditioning someone whether that be a Rugby player or a road-digger. Another interpretation of Functional Training or conditioning in my mind is doing exercises to counter-balance or (offset) repetitive movement patterns that an individual is doing which cause or could potentially cause them repetitive strain injuries (RSI) or is just causing some postural issues which might be restricting them from performing their tasks efficiently.

So that brings me to a problem I see a lot in the gym! Trainers (not mentioning any names!) doing what I call Circus training exercises! Exercises that the trainer appears to have just made up on the spot for the sake of looking ‘different’ and also appear just damn right unsafe and far beyond the client’s capabilities in terms of strength, flexibility and motor skills.

In my point of view, the average person struggles to do ‘the basics’ properly with their bodyweight i.e. Squats, Press-Ups, Lunges, Planks etc – they are not athletes and therefore shouldn’t be treated like one. Most of my clients are given similar exercises but the difference is in how I tailor that exercise to that individual and their needs or how I teach them to do it.

I’m not saying that some of these ‘fancy’ exercises don’t have their place – but make sure you’re doing the basics properly first and not trying to run before you can walk! ;)

By Grant Mitchell