Why Functional Training Is A Bad Approach For Strength And Conditioning Coaches
Kosta Telegadas is a leader in the strength and conditioning for tactical athletes and martial artists all over the world. He found physical training as a necessity to grow up playing sports, help prevent injury & give back to the country that gave his family so much over the generations.
Functional training has taken the fitness world by storm over the past decade. It's a trendy approach that focuses on exercises mimicking daily activities and real-world movements. Functional training has grown in popularity due to its appeal to recreational athletes and gym-goers who want to feel more "functional" in their everyday lives. Turns out that stepping up on a Bose ball with a curl to press and explosive knee drive doesn’t transition to performance that well.
However, for strength and conditioning coaches who are focused on building maximal strength, power, and improving athletic performance, functional training may not be the best choice. When evaluated from a scientific and practical perspective, functional training has significant limitations that make it a less-than-ideal option for serious S&C programs. In this post, we'll break down the key reasons why functional training may not deliver the results strength and conditioning coaches aim for, and what alternatives may be more effective.
1. Lack of progressive overload
One of the fundamental principles of building strength is progressive overload, which simply means gradually increasing the amount of load (weight) to continually challenge adaptation. Functional training, however, often focuses on lighter weights and prioritizes movement quality over increasing resistance.
Unfortunately, this can limit strength gains and lead to plateaus. While functional training may improve general movement patterns or endurance, it fails to develop the general strength base that athletes need to excel in sports. In contrast, traditional strength training exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses allow for consistent, measurable progress over time through increased load.
If the goal is to build absolute strength, strength and conditioning coaches should prioritize methods that incorporate heavy loads and progressive resistance, which are often missing in functional training programs.
2. Limited focus on absolute strength
When it comes to athletic performance, absolute strength, the maximum amount of force an athlete can generate, is critical. Whether you're training for power sports like football, track and field, or rugby, the ability to generate high force is often a key performance indicator. By getting stronger, you can then apply more force, which for athletes is the reason they can jump higher, run faster, etc.
Functional training, with its focus on lighter weights and movement patterns, tends to neglect this aspect of athletic development. It often forgoes general work, which is crucial for developing strength in specific muscle groups. For instance, hamstrings and glutes may not get the focused attention they need in functional programs, leaving athletes underprepared for the demands of their sport. Thus, this could lead to injury from being too weak for the competitions, which would increase the likelihood for injury. After a decade in S&C coaching, I have learned many lessons, but this quote sticks out the most to me. “Weakness can never be a strength, but strength is never a weakness.”
3. Misapplication of the specificity principle
One of the key concepts in strength training is the principle of specificity, which states that training should be designed to improve skills directly relevant to a particular sport. Many proponents of functional training claim that their exercises mimic sports-specific movements. However, there is a common misunderstanding between resemblance and relevance.
Just because an exercise looks like a movement in sports (like simulating a throwing motion with a resistance band) doesn’t mean it will improve the athlete’s ability to perform that movement in competition. For example, heavy squats and deadlifts are proven to increase sprinting speed, even though they don't resemble running. Functional training often sacrifices true specificity in favor of exercises that may look "cool" but lack tangible benefits on the field. The most specific you can get to training for your sport is practicing or playing your sport on game day. All other qualities should be used to enhance the physical adaptations needed to play said sport. This doesn’t mean they have to “look” like it all the time. Be wary of coaches or physical therapists who make such lackluster claims.
4. Overemphasis on balance and coordination
One of the hallmarks of functional training is its focus on balance and coordination. Functional programs often incorporate exercises that challenge stability, such as using wobble boards or performing lunges while standing on one leg. While balance is important, the overemphasis on these elements can detract from time spent on building strength and power, which are much more crucial for most athletes.
Furthermore, most sports already demand high levels of coordination, meaning that athletes get plenty of balance work during their normal activities. Spending too much time on balance exercises in training can become inefficient, when that time could be better spent on proven strength-building techniques.
Exercises like jumps, bounds, power cleans, squats, lunges, RDLs, sprint technique drills, and presses improve both power and coordination, without the drawbacks of unnecessary balance work. Typically, when we want to work on balance, we can incorporate some movements in the warm-up, or in the early off-season phase of the year if athletes really need it to help prep for heavier training later in the offseason.
5. Potential for increased injury risk
Functional training often involves complex movement patterns, multi-planar exercises, and the use of unstable surfaces. While this may sound beneficial, these elements can increase the risk of injury, especially if athletes are performing these movements without proper form or under fatigue. Exercises that involve twisting or rotating on unstable surfaces can put stress on joints and muscles in ways that may lead to injury.
Moreover, functional training tends to overlook the importance of recovery and injury prevention. Traditional strength training, when performed with proper technique and load management, allows for safer progression with fewer injury risks, while simultaneously strengthening joints and muscles to prevent injury.
6. Lack of objective measurement
One of the most significant drawbacks of functional training is the difficulty in tracking progress. Traditional strength programs offer objective metrics—how much weight was lifted, how many reps were performed, or how fast an athlete sprinted. This allows coaches to fine-tune programs, making adjustments based on measurable data.
Functional training, on the other hand, often lacks clear, measurable variables, making it hard to gauge improvement. How do you track progress in an exercise that focuses on balancing on one leg? Without solid metrics, it's difficult for coaches to assess whether an athlete is genuinely improving. Unfortunately, this will limit data collection and make it harder for the coach to justify their position within the athletic organization; leading to job termination and a lack of income to support a family on.
Conclusion
Functional training has its place in general fitness, but when it comes to maximizing strength, power, and performance, it's far from the best practice for strength and conditioning coaches. Traditional resistance training methods, based on principles like progressive overload, specificity, and measurability, provide a far more effective and safer path to athletic development.
As a collective, us coaches should focus on evidence-based training methods, prioritizing the exercises and techniques that have been scientifically proven to produce results. While incorporating functional training elements can provide variety, the core of any program should focus on methods that reliably build strength, prevent injury, and enhance performance. However, do not let too much knowledge and information lead you to paralysis by analysis. In the end, if your goal is to develop stronger, faster, and more resilient athletes, ditch the balance boards and get back to the basics of traditional strength training. As always please feel free to take my work and build off of it. feel free to reach out to me here or direct message me on Instagram if you want to talk programming as coaches
Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info!
Kosta Telegadas is a leader in the strength and conditioning for tactical athletes and martial artists all over the world. He found physical training as a necessity to grow up playing sports, help prevent injury & give back to the country that gave his family so much over the generations. Coach Telegadas has a Master's Degree from the University of Miami (FL) and over 7 years of coaching experience with both professional, college, high school & tactical athletes. He is currently the Head Coach/CEO of Telegadas Performance Training and dedicates his time to make physical training programs & remote coaching accessible to all. His mission: If you stay ready, you never have to get ready!
