I read posts on many strength and conditioning forums, professionals and weekend warriors alike asking questions and supplying answers in an open way. What has struck me as odd in the last couple of months is how so called "functional training" has fallen out of favor. I remember reading a couple of different posts about how functional training is all about standing on stability balls, and shoulder pressing standing on one leg.
Functional training in my mind is a combination of modalities that leads to increased functionality of the human in their chosen activity. That activity can be playing recreational golf, professional football player, or picking up your grandchildren. All of these activities require a different level and sequence of training methods that hopefully lead to increase in ability to accomplish the task.
In any of the above mentioned tasks maximal strength plays a part, but is not the whole story, not even with a football player. The down side to having our gurus in the conditioning world be those that have spent the last ten plus years working strictly with Olympic caliber athletes, is that the programs that get published in the magazines only show a part of their overall training, what Vern Gambetta calls the 24 hour athlete. Mr. Gambetta tours the world giving lectures to coaches all year long, but still keeps his skills ready by working with high school athletes in his local area. I respect that a great deal. It keeps him current on the fact that most high school athletes need maximal strength work to be lower on the priority list.
In a society where kids don't actually play any more, we are missing out on the balance, agility, hand eye coordination, flexibility and athleticism that is built over years of dabbling in many different sports.
We specialize our kids in football at 5 years old, get them in a weight room by 8 and can't understand why Johnny can't change directions or reach around and scratch his own butt by the time his 15.
Optimal strength is a term I think coined by Mr. Clark at NASM, and it means to produce optimal strength for the activity, and then move on to other facets that are lacking, instead of staying put. Something we are missing in America, and something that is being preached all over the world by true coaches like Mr. Gambetta.....and the rest of the world is listening.
