What The Func???
Functional, Functional, Functional, FUNCTIONAL!!!!!!!!!!! You can’t open your damn computer or look at your phone without seeing this term plastered all over every single page, post, exercise, and article. Functional seems to be the ultimate buzzword in training and rehab right now. Everywhere you look are kettlebells, TRX cables, BOSU balls, bouncy bench presses, breathing masks, body blades, etc, etc, etc. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with these tools, but instead how they are often programmed and utilized is a bizarre manner just to make an exercise more difficult or “functional”. There are polarizing views on the topic and everyone and their dog seems to be voicing their opinions regarding the subject, so why not add a little fuel to the fire? Everyone has an opinion, but what do the facts say? As you will see in my arguments below, general strength is functional, and getting generally stronger can aide in functional tasks in many ways.
The root of this problem starts with the definition of what functional really even is. This definition varies from person to person and from group to group. According to Merriam-Webster the simple medical definition of functional is “affecting the way a part of your body works”. The more detailed definition reads: “affecting physiological or psychological functions” While the ACE personal training website describes functional training as training in which “it is as critical to train the specific movement as it is to train the muscles involved in the movement. The brain, which controls muscular movement, thinks in terms of whole motions, not individual muscles.”
Upon reading that, it appears to me the people over at ACE are doing their personal trainers a disservice in indicating that the only way to improve function is to perform exercises that directly require the specific movements involved in the function. ACE seems to be ignoring basic foundations of training such as “specificity” and “overload”. They are attempting to hit home on the specificity category, but are combining the two unnecessarily to the detriment of each. This “functional” training goes too far by becoming too specific to allow any real overload. It begins to conflict with the SAID (specific adaptation to imposed demands) principle that dictates that as preparation nears competition (or performance of ADLs), the athlete (patient) should train to enhance the skills most applicable to their sport (task) AFTER a period of refining and enhancing general strength and physical preparedness.
It is true that the brain “thinks” in terms of a movement instead of individual muscles, however it can’t be ignored that individual muscles make up the foundation for which those movements can be achieved. The ACE definition appears to be referring to the idea of motor programs. As a reminder a motor program is an abstract representation of movement that centrally organizes and controls the many degrees of freedom involved in performing an action. Put simply a motor program is a plan the brain has inherently developed and refined to be able to complete generalized tasks and adapt on the fly to variations needed to complete the task due to a multitude of outside factors that could occur.
Motor programs are refined with various types of practice related to the task. The more practice of a task, the better we tend to get at that task. Shoot a free throw 1,000 times and you get better at shooting free throws. Stand up from a chair 1,000 times and you get better at standing up. UNLESS you don’t possess the inherent strength or mobility required to complete that task. If you aren’t physically strong enough to shoot the ball to the hoop, you aren’t going to make too many shots regardless of amount of practice. If you don’t possess the necessary strength to stand from that chair, you can practice all you want, but you won’t be able to stand. On the opposite side of the coin, I’m often asked “why do I need to get someone stronger if they are already strong enough to complete the task they need?” The simple answer is that more strength develops a “functional reserve” such that when something goes wrong (unexpected internal or external task modifier, lack of concentration, change in technique, impending injury, getting old, etc), the client is better able to deal with imposed demands or unexpected stressors. Simply put, stronger equals easier. For any a given task, you can complete more good quality repetitions of that task if your absolute strength is above the strength required for the task. More repetitions equal more practice of skills which leads to greater carry over in skill acquisition and improved motor programs. While this hasn’t been shown very much in research directly on ADLs, we know that strength training increases endurance athletic performance primarily by increasing movement/mechanical efficiency as well as decreases injuries by having a greater tissue tolerance and “functional reserve”.
A simple example can be illustrated by thinking about two different cars driven by equally skilled novice drivers. Theoretically, let’s have the function/task of the car be to drive 50 laps around a track in the fastest time possible. In this scenario, we can assume the driver with the faster car is likely to win this race. The car is an example of the physical strength and preparedness of your body. A 50 horsepower Smartcar’s peformance will be fairly limited compared to a Lamborghini. However, if we assume we have equal cars and one of the cars was driven by a much more skilled driver (more highly practiced skill/motor program) we might make the inference that it is very likely this car will win the race. To take it a step further, it is also likely that if a skilled driver has the Smartcar and a novice driver has the Lamborghini, the novice driver will still win the race due to the sheer superiority of his vehicle. Basically work you ass off to get a steadily nicer and nicer car. As your car improves, spend more and more time working on your driving skills.
A fantastic example of how getting stronger even using “non-functional” exercises such as seated knee extensions (the bane of every rehab professional’s existence……or not) can drastically improve performance in other “functional” tasks such as walking, sit to stand, and balance (which they did not practice in experiment) can be seen here in this study. What they found in this study of elderly nursing home residents after 8 weeks of resistance training 3 days/week using knee extensions was an astonishing 48% improvement in walking and balance scores as well as a 75% increase in overall lower body strength. The researchers were even able to progress two patients who previously used canes to independent ambulation without cane usage. This was all simply due to increasing knee extensor strength with some good old fashioned seated knee extensions.
This brings us to the topic of relative strength, or strength in relation to an individual’s size. Strength IS specific, and strengthening SHOULD BE specific. Everyone doesn’t need to be able to lift a house to get through life just fine and do everything they want to do, but they do need to be strong relative to their body and the activities they participate in. Different body types and sizes may have a different requirement of strength to function optimally, and different tasks may require varying levels of strength/power/coordination to complete with ease. I don’t need to be stronger than the guy next to me, I need to be strong enough to do what I need to do. At the end of the day being strong for your body improves your function. Period. No need for fancy “functional” exercises. Just lift stuff up and put it back down in purposeful manner to build strength in the muscles that propel the movements you need for your required tasks. Lift with your arms; lift with your legs; lift with your trunk; be better at moving; have a higher capacity for imparted stresses. We know that strength training is one of the most powerfully proven interventions for preventing injuries. I think it’s safe to say that being injured is not functional.
This means that being strong can therefore automatically be categorized as “functional” as it aids to prevent injuries which lead to a lack of function. Is general strength skill specific? No. However, I would argue that having a certain level of base strength will improve the capacity to train specifically to enhance that skill, or allow for improved ability spend time training of specifics for a sport.
The case for lifting heavy weights: (weights RELATIVELY HEAVY for you)…
Simply stated, the primary goal of functional training is to transfer the improvements in strength achieved in one movement to enhancing the performance of another movement by affecting the entire neuromuscular system. Improved motor unit recruitment and increased strength would appear to be one of, if not the most apt way to achieve this. How do you improve neural efficiency you ask? YOU LIFT HEAVY WEIGHTS. Looking at any EMG study will show you that heavier weights elicit a greater total neural recruitment pattern for single repetitions. Greater EMG means more motor unit recruitment. More motor unit recruitment means more muscle activation. More muscle activation means more strength. More strength means improved function and decreased risk for injuries. Now this doesn’t mean that lifting lighter weight and higher reps doesn’t also activate a huge amount of motor units through motor unit cycling, but that’s the topic of an entirely different and detailed article. However, it means that lifting heavier weights very well may make you much better at recruiting a high degree of motor units all at once. Lifting light weights will make you stronger, but lifting heavy will make you stronger-er.
Everyone has their panties in a wad about what functional is. The theme seems to be missing the forest because they are lost looking at the trees. Basic principles are basic principles for a reason. They are paramount, and they should lay the foundation for all other interventions. Basic doesn’t necessarily mean simple, in fact simple is extremely hard. It means it should be the basis for what comes after. Build strength and capacity first. Then refine skills and practice your task. Hopefully after reading this you aren’t asking yourself “what the func”.
As always, thanks for reading
Jarod Hall, PT, DPT, CSCS
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