Functional training focuses on multi-joint movements that integrate muscle groups instead of isolating single joints or muscles. It aims to mimic the natural movements of everyday life and sports through exercises like squats, lunges, and pulling motions. The goals are to increase mobility, activate the core and nervous system, and train the body for life outside of the gym by emphasizing quality over quantity of movement. A functional training program should blend concepts from sports performance, consider an individual's sport demands, and progress from simple bodyweight exercises to more complex multi-planar movements.

1. FUNCTIONAL TRAINING FOR SPORT
IASST SPORTS SCIENCE FORUM

2. WHAT IS THE FUNCTIONAL TRAINING?
Functional training is not new; rather we have encountered it for several
years, and it is probably one of the currently most overused terms in the
fitness industry. An Internet search of functional training will produce
23,600,000 hits.

3. BRIEF HISTORY

5. PHILOSOPHY
▪ We refer to the three main systems that essentially
provide the functions of the human body in our daily
lives: the central nervous system, the nervous system,
and the muscle system. Another system, the skeletal
system, should also be considered. These systems form
a kind of symbiosis. A comparison from the realm of
technology would be the car in which one important
part cannot function without another
▪ It adopts the body’s natural tasks, its movements and
functions, and practices movement patterns from
everyday life to balance body, spirit, and soul and to
preserve that balance long-term.

7. CONCEPT
To better understand the
concept of functional
training, ask yourself a few
simple questions.
How many sports are
played sitting down?
Rowing
How many sports are
played in a rigid
environment where
stability is provided by
outside sources?
The stability is provided
by the athlete, not by
some outside source.
How many sports skills
are performed by one
joint acting in
isolation?
Functional training
attempts to focus on
multi joint movement
as much as possible.

8. HOW MANY SPORTS ARE PLAYED SITTING DOWN?
▪ As far as I can tell, only a few
sports, such as rowing, are
performed from a seated
position. If we accept this
premise, we can see that
training muscles from a seated
position would not be functional
for most sports.

9. HOW MANY SPORTS ARE PLAYED IN A RIGID ENVIRONMENT
WHERE STABILITY IS PROVIDED BY OUTSIDE SOURCES?
▪ The answer would appear to be none.
Most sports are contested on fields or
courts. The stability is provided by the
athlete, not by some outside source.
Reasoning again would tell us that
most machine-based training systems
are not by definition functional
because the load is stabilized for the
lifter by the machine. Proponents of
machine-based training systems might
argue that machine-based training is
safer, but there is a clear tradeoff for
relative safety in the weight room.

11. HOW MANY SPORTS SKILLS ARE PERFORMED BY
ONE JOINT ACTING IN ISOLATION?
▪ Again, the answer is zero.
Functional training attempts to
focus on multijoint movement
as much as possible. Vern
Gambetta and Gary Gray, two
widely recognized experts on
functional training, state, “Single
joint movements that isolate a
specific muscle are very non
functional. Multijoint
movements which integrate
muscle groups into movement
patterns are very functional”

12. GOALS
▪ The goal of functional training is to “wake up” the body and give it
mobility for life. This is done through
❱ targeted movement of ideally all of the body’s muscles
and joints,
❱ targeted movement and activation of the spine,
❱ activation of the nervous system
❱ activation of the muscular system

13. PRINCIPLES OF FUNCTIONAL TRAINING
1. Integrate, not isolate.
Training complex movement
sequences, meaning not just
isolating individual muscles,
but rather entire muscle
chains the way they are also
used in everyday life

14. 2. Multidimensional bandwidth. Training movement patterns
from daily life (everyday life, job, sports) that require the use
of multiple joints on different planes.

16. 3. Quality over quantity

17. 4. Use the body’s own stabilizers, especially core
stability instead of external stabilizers, such as chairs
or benches.

18. 5. Address correctable compensations and dysfunctions

19. DIFFERENT
BETWEEN
FUNCTIONAL
AND
ISOLATION
TRAINING

21. HOW FUNCTIONAL TRAINING WORKS?
Functional training uses many concepts developed by sport
coaches to train speed, strength, and power to improve
sport performance and reduce incidence of injury. The key
in taking those concepts from the track coach or
powerlifting expert is to apply them intelligently to
athletes. They cannot be applied blindly from one sport to
another. Rather, a program should carefully blend concepts
and knowledge from areas such as sports medicine,
physical therapy, and sports performance to create the best
possible scenario for that athlete.
Functional training involves simple versions of squatting,
forward bending, lunging, pushing, and pulling. The
purpose is to provide a continuum of exercises that teach
athletes to handle their own body weight in all planes of
movement.

23. 7 BASIC PATTERNS
OF MOVEMENT

24. HOW TO DESIGN YOUR FUNCTIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM
Determine Your Demands by:
■ Is your sport a sprint-dominated sport that emphasizes speed and
power?
■ Are you required to stop and start frequently?
■ How long does a play, point, shift, or routine last?

25. PRINCIPLES OF FUNCTIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM DESIGN
Keep in your mind:
■ Learn the basic exercises first
■ Begin with simple body-weight exercises
■ Progress from simple to complex

27. REFERNCES
▪ Functional Fitness. The Personal Trainer's Guide Maidenhead: Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK)
Ltd., 2016
▪ New functional training for sports / Michael Boyle, Second Edition, Champaign, IL, Human
Kinetics, [2016] |
▪ Functional training for sports / Michael Boyle, United States: Human Kinetics, Champaign,
2003
▪ Functional training anatomy / Kevin Carr, Mary Kate Feit, Champaign, IL : Human Kinetics, [2022]