Functional Strength Training for New Results

When I use the words “functional strength” people get all sorts of different reactions. Some think I am going to show really cool, new, extreme exercise, others think about staying with the “basics”. In either case, functional strength training has little to do with the actual exercise but the thought process behind it.

Well, that’s not completely true, the exercise matters, but when someone shows me a new exercise they see and ask, “is this good?” Before I make a judgement about it I want to know what they want to use it for! That is really the point of functional strength training over how most people approach their work in the gym.

Ask the average strength coach or personal trainer what you need to do in the gym and they will tell you something like, “you gotta squat, press, pull, and carry.” At first glance that sounds like pretty good advice, but the reality is that doesn’t tell us too much of WHICH exercises to focus upon or how to progress these movements.

Why try to progress functional strength training like squats, cleans, pushes, and pulls? A good coach can give you good exercises, a GREAT coach can give you the RIGHT exercise for y0u! The difference in functional strength training is that we look at all the “little things” in how we move and perform. How, a change in stance, load position, or direction of our movements can expose us to needs we may have never needed before.

Far too often I see even really good coaches on social media trying to progress a movement, but they forget the very essence of the exercise in the first place. That is because they don’t really have a system of progressing functional strength training. They know that doing, “this or that” makes an exercise more difficult, but they often can’t point you to the direction of what to change, how it makes you better, and where do you go from here?

A great example is our wonderful DVRT coaches that take simple principles like load position, stance, and direction of movement to take a great functional strength training exercise like a Clean and Press and make it something so much more. Looking at just 3 strategies we open up the possibility for so many changes that expose us to strength, stability, mobility, agility, and power. Not only do we build such great functional strength training qualities, but we scale them to meet where we are at and where our goals my lie.

In other words, instead of trying to fit YOU into a fitness program, we try to make the fitness program fit you. Novel idea, right?! One of the major goals of DVRT is not to just expose people to what functional strength training is really meant to be, but to also give you direction with your training. There is plenty of, “hey try this!” However, there isn’t nearly as much of when you do this, then try this, and then this. Giving you a map of functional strength training I think is far more empowering than just giving you the end point.

When you watch these amazing DVRT coaches, watch for the three main variables…..

-Stance

-Load Position

-Direction of Movement

If these are new functional strength training concepts for you, pick one, often stance can be really eye opening and see where you may have been missing great strength in your training!

Great DVRT ideas like this we want to be accessible to anyone. That is why we are making EVERYTHING in our DVRT site available for 30% off with coupon code “holiday” HERE

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