06/11/2026
Your training doesn’t need to be “functional” to be effective.
For over a decade there’s been a large push that exercise and training should be “functional” or mimic what you want to do, or some other weird branding like that to push a training methodology (I’m looking at you CrossFit).
But what the hell even is that? Sure there’s some categories that were created by the people pushing this idea (like no machines or isolation movements), but these are just arbitrary ideas with no research or evidence behind them, they just kind of made it up and ran with it cause it sounded good.
If you asked ten different coaches what it is, you’d probably get eleven different answers, and that’s coming from someone who spent my first few years coaching learning and mentoring at “functional” training facilities and prominent coaches in the space.
In reality, strength and the ability to produce more force is “functional”, even if it’s a machine based isolation exercise with extra external support.
Does that mean you stop doing single leg work or more open-chain exercises, of course not.
What you want when you say functional training, is more capability to do the things you want, like being better at your sport, playing with your kids, or just able to do general daily activities of living without extra help.
The good news, that’s pretty easy and strength and conditioning coaches have been programming training like that for decades. There’s no fancy marketing or agenda pushing, just sound evidence based training where you run, jump, lift, brace and move through different planes of motion. That’s not “functional”, it’s the basics of training theory and proper planning to include all aspects of fitness.
For most people to get fitter and more capable, you should focus on multi-joint exercises for the bulk of your training, fill in with isolated exercises to build up weak points, and be sure to mix in runs, jumps, and different intensities of cardio work.
What’s your take? Do you agree or feel a different type of way?
