Im a weight lifter and am interested in getting bigger and stronger. With the recent “functional training” craze, should I incorporate some functional training into the mix?
We think that people have misconstrued the function of “functional training”. Functional training, by definition, means training in order to better function in your environment. For example, one client has recently taken up pie eating as a hobby. For him, functional training consists of a program of heavy fork lifting (he has a special fork that weighs 50lbs), resisted breathing techniques to assist in breathing when his stomach impinges on his diaphragm (this entails placing his head in a paper bag with a tiny hole for air exchange), and finally, he’s constructed a device that shoves large amounts of pie down his throat so that he can stretch out his stomach without the gag reflex preventing overconsumption. Following the “functional training” ideas of a web guru will not help this guy one bit. So ask yourself what’s functional for you. What’s your priority – size or strength? If it’s size than you have to do functional training. You have to functionally train like a bodybuilder! Why
