Bodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum - View Single Post - Beind strong opposed to having functional strength

EricT · 01-02-2008, 01:02 PM

Finally got around to reading that, Monsta. KB is a smart guy but I'm not sure that he's on the mark with regards to functional strength. Functional strength, whether or not there is anything to "functional training, has to do with motor qualities. He hasn't really said anything about "function" in a broader sense. If you do bench press and get stronger than you have "functional" strength for that endeavor. Kind of a fancy way of saying that strength training is specific. But if you do explosive squats to get a better 800 meter sprint? Squats are not "functional" to sprinting. To your brain they are different things and it's about joints and a thousand other things, not just muscles. You would still have to sprint in order to train that function. So I'm not sure he is saying much there. I know he knows what he is talking about, I just don't think he is saying a whole lot in that article. I mean, it all came down to using different rep ranges. Kinda basic to all strength training.

The basic idea of "functional strength" has to do with the strength gains from "training" actually enhancing the movements or functions or whatever athletic or other activities you are engaged in. I think it's more about the way the brain runs the muscles than it is just about explosivity.

I understand the point about speed or explosivity being key, and that this would be considered "functional" for an athlete who needs it, but MOVEMENT, is specific. Doing a certain thing mostly makes you better at that thing. But saying that a certain strength quality is functional isn't the same thing as defining functional strength as a certain strength quality.