It has for a while been my personal position that athletes of all kinds and all levels can benefit from a smartly designed and well executed strength training routine. I have repeatedly seen this to be the case in my own athletic endeavors .

No matter what sport I was playing at any given time, weight and strength training were part of our overall training routines, and for good reason. Strength coaching not only builds just strength, but depending on the design and kind of the strength training program, sportsmen can improve balance, coordination, suppleness, power, speed and endurance.

One area of strength training which has been gaining popularity during the past one or two years is Functional Training ( though many of these exercises have been about for a long, long time ).

Functional Training is concentrated on building strength in the muscles we use to perform daily functions like carrying groceries, walking up and down stairs, slicing wood, digging the driveway, etc .

Training in this fashion sounds right in that the strength gains made can be applied to the areas that we really need strength in. If you concentrate on it this way, though the bench press is a great resistance training movement, I would not say that it necessarily helps a person that is looking to gain strength required for their job as a chef.

Think of functional training as particular to the game or way of living that someone lives. I read a neat phrase recently that said learn how to train the "go" muscles, not the "show" muscles. That just about sums up functional coaching.

So what are some Functional Training exercises? There are literally hundreds of functional movements, and it fact I would say you can make a debate that pretty much all exercises can in some ways be considered functional movements, but for the sake of this writing, we'll just name a few of the more frequently used ones.

Take into account that Functional Coaching can involve weights and weight machines, use resistance bands and tubes, medication balls, kettle bells, ropes, pull-up bars, plyometric "jump" boxes or platforms, and stability balls. Regard it like this, the main muscles utilized in swimming are the shoulders, the legs and the back.

Secondary muscles would be the arms, the hips and the trunk muscles. To set up a functional training program for swimmers, I would like to recommend swimmers focus upon buttressing movements that target both the number one and secondary muscles used. I say pull-ups and other pulling movements would be useful for the back muscles. Overhead presses and lateral raises with kettle bells or resistance bands would be appropriate exercises for the shoulders, but also add some movements that target the rear deltoids and the rotator cuff muscles for balance.

Most times wounds happen in the shoulders springing from a dearth of balanced strength within particular muscles in the shoulders. For legs, squats are usually a go-to exercise and leg presses work equally as well . I prefer these two leg exercises as they work the entire leg and not just categorical muscles within the leg. I recently read research debating how to become a faster pool swimmer by using the free speed that comes out of a robust kick-off from the sides of the pool.

This particular research discussed squats as a movement to help a swimmer increase the power they generate from kicking off the sides during each lap. So it is comparatively simple to develop a functional programme on your own if you think about it. Simply determine which muscles you are using for a particular function or sport, and then find exercises that buttress those muscles. From there it is just a matter of performing these exercises during your workout routines.

It's also worth mentioning that many exercise that require balancing, like One-Leg Romanian Squats employing a bench and dumbbells, compel you work on balance and strengthen the muscles that are involved in balancing yourself in the exercise. This improves balance, but can also transliterate into more power and agility, which are both vital in sports performance.

It is worth engaging in both Functional Training and Sport-Specific Strength Coaching to take your sports performance to the next level. Strength training is a complete must for any athlete looking to be competitive in any sport or recreational activity. Whether you do resistance band training, weight lifting, power yoga, Cross Fit or any other type of strength training, it should be considered just as important as flexibleness and precise sports coaching.