Functional Path Training

No Pain, No Gain?

No pain, no gain was a very prevalent attitude when I began coaching in the late Sixties and surprisingly it continues to persist today. I personally have never been able to figure out the appeal of this approach. Proper training in the weight room or on the field demands that the athlete be pushed to test their limits. Some workouts are very difficult and other workouts will almost seem easy. This ebb and flow of hard efforts interspersed with easier efforts is essential allow for proper adaptation. I really think the no pain; no gain approach is a direct outgrowth of the fact that historically strength & conditioning was a field driven by football. It was the football strength & conditioning coach who set the tempo for the programs because they were often the head strength coach. The mastodon mentality that pervaded football in the fifties and the sixties served to reinforce the no pain, no gain approach. After all in those days players were not allowed to take their helmets off during practice and not allowed to drink during practice. The whole goal was to make the players tough, so without pain there was no gain!

That should be changing today with the accumulation of knowledge and experience that we have. I do not know about you, but I want my athletes tough on game day. That should be the goal of training. A thoroughly conditioned athlete who is supremely confident in his or her physical preparation will be mentally and physically tough. Physically and psychologically an athlete can only go to the well so many times before it will begin to deplete their reserves. There is no doubt in my mind that a good sport coach or athlete development coach can get athletes to train and perform beyond levels that the athletes ever thought possible. To achieve this does not mean you have to inflict pain. Pushing the envelope is uncomfortable. Athletes in training must get comfortable with a certain level of discomfort.

As coaches we are teachers. It is our job to teach the athletes we work with how to train. Training is more than feeling the burn. In fact when you do feel the burn that is often a sign that the training is incorrect. It does not take a genius to devise a workout that can bury someone, that is not training. Good movements require effort, concentration and intensity. I have found that this is the hardest lesson to get across to today’s athletes. I certainly do not want to discourage an athlete from working hard, but I feel I must teach what training is. Training is cumulative, it is more than one heavy training session, and it is the cumulative effect of many sessions over a period of week’s and months. Keeping each workout in the context of the whole program. It is hard for a young athlete to think about or see the big picture so we as coaches have paint a very clear picture so they can see where they are going and the steps they must take to get there.

Training is not punishment; it is an opportunity to get better. If we can shift our thinking to this approach then the no gain, no gain school has no credibility. The question is: Are you making the athletes better or are you making them tired? If you are just making them tired then I would suggest you look at another approach. Remember willingness to work is a given prerequisite for success, but it must be purposeful, directed and nurtured. There is gain without pain, but it demands patience and a plan well executed.

Coaching

Coaching is a process with a foundation in pedagogy, supported by science, forged in experience, proven & tested in the competitive arena. Lest we forget coaching is not about training, technique, tactics and strategy, it is about people. We are not coaching numbers in an algorithm; we are coaching human beings who are individuals with emotions and feeling. The coaches who make a difference are coaches who focus on the process not the outcomes. Coaching is not something you do; it is something you are with every fiber of your being. Invest in the process and take time to enjoy the journey.

Bastardization of Functional Training

Unfortunately the concept of functional training as it has evolved and been co-opted by the “fitness industry” has been bastardized and compromised into a weird amalgamation of crazy exercises without any logical progression or justification. It is more than exercises; it is a systematic sequential and progressive approach to training for the rigors of competition. There is no magic or mystery, just application of basic principles that are proven and have stood the test of time. It is more than just a bunch of exercises thrown together that are different; it is variety with a purpose. The key to a good sound functional training program is progression. You must carefully assess where you are at the present time and carve out a step-by-step progression to achieve specific realistic training objectives. Know where have you been and where are you going. Then fill the gap with a logical functional progression that will move forward only when the previous step has been mastered.

The Continuum of Function

Movement is a complex event that involves synergists, stabilizers, neutralizers, and antagonists all working together to reproduce efficient triplanar movements. Therefore the basic foundational principle of functional training is to train movements not muscles. Sport scientist Roger Enoka put it best: “The function of a muscle depends on the context in which it is activated.” Different movements use muscles differently. The brain does not recognize individual isolated muscles; rather it recognizes patterns of movement in response to sensory input. The Central Nervous System is the command station that controls and directs all movement. The CNS calls for patterns of movement that can be modified in countless ways to react appropriately to gravity, ground reaction forces, and momentum. Each activity is subjected to further refinements and adjustments by feedback from the body’s proprioceptors. This process ensures optimal neuromuscular control and efficiency of function.

All movement is functional; it is just to what degree is it functional. Function is integrated multi-directional movement. Functional movement is meaningful movement that is part of a chain reaction, not an isolated event. Movement occurs on a continuum of function. Some movements are more functional than others based on the end object of the training.

Less Functional>>>>Most Functional

Sterile/Artificial>>>>Non Sterile/Real Life

1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10

To determine placement on the continuum of function there are basic evaluative criteria:

Plane(s) of Movement - If the movement involves multiple planes of motion as opposed to movement in one plane then it is more functional.

Joint Involvement – If the movement involves multiple joints as opposed to isolation on one joint then it is more functional.

Speed of Movement – If the speed and tempo of movement is as fast as can be controlled then it is higher on the continuum of function.

Proprioceptive Demand – If the movement is of high proprioceptive demand thane it is higher on the continuum of function.

Mindful – If the movement is mindful, demands attention and concentration then it is higher on the continuum of function, as opposed to being able to put the mind on autopilot and not having to concentrate to execute.

The "Complete" Adaptable Athlete

To thrive in the performance arena demands a versatile highly adaptable athlete whose training reflects the demands of the sport and the needs of the individual athlete. We must recognize that for the body to execute movement, whether it is a sustained endurance activity, explosive bursts or fine motor skill that all parts and systems need to work together in harmony. Movement is a symphony not a solo. You can’t do a “cardio” workout, just like you can’t do a “neural” workout. All systems of the body work together at all times with the demand on a particular system determined by the intensity of the activity. To continue the symphonic metaphor a section of the orchestra is featured or highlighted while the other parts of the orchestra are still playing, albeit in the background. Let's also give credit to the conductor; the brain, the muscles and all systems of the body are slaves of the brain. It is the brain that drives, connects and controls movements to enable us to accomplish the desired task. To use Tim Noakes term the brain is the "central governor." So we can’t lose sight of the whole, the big picture in the desire to understand the parts. Give the body credit for it’s inherent wisdom and it’s ability to learn to link, sync, connect and coordinate in order to play the beautiful movement symphony we call sports performance.

What is Functional Training

Functional training is a label for a concept. As with any label it is subject to various interpretations. I originally conceived it as multi lateral training integrating various training modalities (medicine ball, stretch cord, weight training, dumbbells, body weight etc.) to produce significant adaptation in specific performance parameters. It trains all systems of the body while recognizing and respecting the wisdom of the body. The end result is a highly adaptable athlete who is able to perform without limitations in the competitive environment. Contrast this to biased one- sided training that results in adapted athletes who are inconsistent in performance and prone to injury.

Toenails to Fingernails

The body is a link system; this link system is referred to as the kinetic chain. Great training and optimum performance is about linkage – it is how all the parts of the chain work together in harmony to produce smooth efficient patterns of movement. Conventional academic preparation still focuses on studying individual muscles based on classical anatomy. This is where the confusion begins as to what is functional movement. We must remember that we do not function in the anatomical position. The anatomical position is static; it provides us with the perspective of mental convenience to arrange of all the individual muscles for ease of study and observation. In order to truly understand functional training we must get away from the focus on muscles and focus instead on movements. It is important to emphasize that the brain does not recognize individual muscles. It recognizes patterns of movement, which consist of the individual muscles working in harmony to produce movements required by the sport.

Strength – Functional or Measurable?

Functional strength training is not about measurable strength. How much you can lift or how many foot-pounds of force you can express on a dynamometer are meaningless numbers. Instead quality of movement, rhythm, synchronization and connections are what is important. The goal is always the ability to apply the strength that is developed in the actual sport performance. How is the force expressed? Can you produce and reduce the force? Force production is all about acceleration, but often the key to movement efficiency and staying injury free is the ability to decelerate and stabilize in order to position the body to perform the desired movement. A good functional strength-training program will work on the interplay between force production, force reduction and stabilization. The end result is functional strength, strength you can use in your sport.

Perils of Reductionism

A reductionist, mechanistic approach that segments the body into parts and separate systems results in biased one-sided training regimens. This creates robotic athletes that are good in a sterile training environment but have difficulty transferring training to the sport. If you are doing too much of one thing then you are probably not doing much of something else, it is a zero sum relationship. The result is an athlete fully adapted to that one component of training.

Some Lessons from GAIN 2015

Quality, Quality, Quality

Less is more, be focused and on task

PE is the foundation

Important it is to be a non-specialist

Pay your dues