What is functional Strength ?

Yugo King

Yugo King

You are overrated on Sherdog
Banned
Joined
Dec 21, 2016
Messages
376
Reaction score
0
And what function does it do ?

And what is unfunctional strengths function ?

Which excercises create non functional Strength ?

Are bodybuilders unfunctionaly strong or do they simply lack sport specific cardio ?
 
At least IMHO:

Functional strength = the ability to apply sufficient force during activities of daily living and/or sport

Non-functional strength = the ability to apply force in activities that (bio mechanically) have no real world equivalent, eg leg extensions.

Exercises that build functional strength include deadlift, squat, clean, row, press, pull-up, farmer's walk, lunge, step up, etc.
 
Its a term that gets tossed around where people inherently mistake technique for actual strength. Lot of times a common example that gets brought up is: boxers punch harder than bodybuilders/lifters heavier than them.

People who bring up the term usually try to say, strength that is applicable in an athletic setting.
 
Functional strength=the ability to tear someone's head off.
 
gspieler said:
At least IMHO:

Functional strength = the ability to apply sufficient force during activities of daily living and/or sport

Non-functional strength = the ability to apply force in activities that (bio mechanically) have no real world equivalent, eg leg extensions.

Exercises that build functional strength include deadlift, squat, clean, row, press, pull-up, farmer's walk, lunge, step up, etc.
Click to expand...

Leg extensions make your quads stronger, do you understand that ? Having stronger hamstrings can be applied in bio mechanical activities
 
Yugo King said:
Leg extensions make your quads stronger, do you understand that ? Having stronger hamstrings can be applied in bio mechanical activities
Click to expand...
Sitting in a chair and extending the knees is not a movement pattern in many real-world activities. Let alone that you're essentially activating only the quads, vs developing the ability to recruit fibers in the quads, glutes, hammies, erectors, etc all in unison. The bottom line is, leg extensions(and most single-joint machine exercises), are a third-rate means of hypertrophy/strength related goals.
 
gspieler said:
Sitting in a chair and extending the knees is not a movement pattern in many real-world activities. Let alone that you're essentially activating only the quads, vs developing the ability to recruit fibers in the quads, glutes, hammies, erectors, etc all in unison. The bottom line is, leg extensions(and most single-joint machine exercises), are a third-rate means of hypertrophy/strength related goals.
Click to expand...

yes you are sitting but moving the legs is a incomplete movement but still in the real world you are moving your legs from the knee down, it´s isolation but is it unfunctional as it´s function is moving the leg from the knee down or moving just your hams which is aplicable in the real world and DOES make you stronger.
 
you´re arguing isolation vs compound I made a thread bout functionality of excercises or if there is a "unfunctional" excercise.
 
Functional exercises are those that carryover to your intended application. If you want to curl the most weight in human history, calf raises may not be the most functional for you. However, if you want to do heavy deadlifts and farmers walks without tearing a bicep, it's not beyond the realm of possibilities to consider bicep curls remotely functional.

It's more of a continuum than a boolean variable... I think that might be the first time I've used "boolean" in 20 years. Deadlifts and squats are often thought of as being very functional since their development carries over to many athletic endeavors. Isolation exercises are support players, but not wholey without function.
 
Urban said:
Functional exercises are those that carryover to your intended application. If you want to curl the most weight in human history, calf raises may not be the most functional for you. However, if you want to do heavy deadlifts and farmers walks without tearing a bicep, it's not beyond the realm of possibilities to consider bicep curls remotely functional.

It's more of a continuum than a boolean variable... I think that might be the first time I've used "boolean" in 20 years. Deadlifts and squats are often thought of as being very functional since their development carries over to many athletic endeavors. Isolation exercises are support players, but not wholey without function.
Click to expand...

So every excercise is functional but not optimal for the specific goal.
 
j123 said:
Its a term that gets tossed around where people inherently mistake technique for actual strength. Lot of times a common example that gets brought up is: boxers punch harder than bodybuilders/lifters heavier than them.

People who bring up the term usually try to say, strength that is applicable in an athletic setting.
Click to expand...

Good.

But what strength is not applicable in a athletic setting ?

What sport does not use strength from the entire body ?
 
at first i thought "troll", then i thought "strong papi flaco vibe" and then, in the end, it was better than expected.
 
Yugo King said:
Good.

But what strength is not applicable in a athletic setting ?

What sport does not use strength from the entire body ?
Click to expand...
Squats may be less functional for a swimmer for example.

But the term 'functional' is most often used by people who fail to push themselves beyond certain limits or are shit e.g. "once i deadlifted twice my bodyweight/hurt my back squatting because I'm a fuckhead, i stopped going heavy and focused on maintenance and formwork by doing crossfit because it's more functional"
 
Yugo King said:
Leg extensions make your quads stronger, do you understand that ?
Click to expand...
When it comes to sport performance, nobody really cares how "strong" your quads are.

What matters is how much force your legs can generate in a specific motor pattern. For instance, when it comes to the standing vertical jump, what matters is how much force you can apply in the triple extension with a vertical vector of force application.

And, since generating force in specific motor patterns depends not only on architectural muscle properties, but also on neural properties (as a matter of fact, in virtually all sports, neural properties are much more important), you need to "train movements, not muscles" in order to develop the desired neural adaptations.


Along with the above, leg extensions are not particularly "functional" in general, because it is a motor pattern that is never really utilised by the human body under any circumstances. Under either athletic or every-day circumstances, you never really have forceful quad action in isolation.


Exercises like squats, step ups and lunges are definitely more "functional" than leg extensions.
 
Last edited:
Functional means relative, as in strength relative to .....

I don't know why it's an issue or a question, it's pretty basic language.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,082
Messages
55,466,517
Members
174,786
Latest member
plasterby

Share this page

Back
Top