Tue, Apr 21, 2009
Chris Highcock just posted an excellent interview with Luke Carlson on functional training at ConditioningResearch.com Luke does an excellent job of explaining the relationships between proper strength training, skill training and functional ability and dispells many popular misconceptions about training to improve athletic ability.
22. April 2009 at 8:12 am
Great interview, so many thanks Drew for posting the link. It’s important the public get to understand the conning of “Functional Training” circus acts with gimmicks!
27. April 2009 at 6:02 pm
Thanks for the link Drew. This stuff is certainly generating some debate.
28. April 2009 at 9:34 am
Anybody who disagrees doesn’t understand the subject.
28. April 2009 at 6:09 pm
It is my impression that few people really understand what is being said. They just react when something challenges the status quo or the current accepted wisdom.
2. May 2009 at 1:36 pm
Drew -
Only slightly off-topic, I rarely, if ever, see HIT proponents emphasizing ‘corrective exercise’ or ‘unilateral training’, both of which are all-the-rage in fitness circles these days.
Is there a reason for this ?
14. May 2009 at 3:29 pm
Dale,
The reason for this is most likely that HIT is based on science, rather than the latest fads. While there are places for these things, their use by many mainstream personal trainers probably has more to do with following trends than providing clients with effective training.
2. August 2009 at 7:22 pm
Good to see. I would also recommend ‘System Analysis’ by Brian D. Johnston of The IART; this covers a few topics but it has a chapter of 40-odd pages on Paul Chek and functional training, which comprehensively de-bunks it. Actually there’s probably more than you would need for a discussion but worth buying nevertheless.
25. April 2010 at 6:02 am
There is place in my town that uses functional training designed by Paul Chek. I took a free workout with one of the trainers. The trainer had good intentions but after reading ‘Body by Science’ and conditioning research interview with Luke Carlson I highly doubt I will go back. I might go back to work on my speed training but that is about it. The reason I went is to work on my football skills.
30. April 2010 at 5:18 pm
Kevin,
The best way to improve your football skills is to practice the specific movements required for your position. Many of the agility and speed drills popular with football coaches are a waste of time and will either contribute nothing to improvements in skill or, worse, result in negative transfer. Training has to be very specific for positive transfer to occur.