Functional training vs. bodybuilding: The differences revealed

[BABY1]

What is “functional” training? What is bodybuilding? What’s the difference between the two?
Should bodybuilders train like athletes and should athletes train like bodybuilders?
How should you train if you’re just an average Joe (or Jane) who wants to look good and feel good?
Who would you listen to — the heavily-muscled bodybuilding champ or the athletic strength coach?
Bodybuilding training is judged on the way you look, not by the way you perform. Whether you use light weights or heavy weights, slow reps or fast reps, long workouts or short workouts is completely irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that your physique is visually the best. This means having the perfect package of low body fat and muscular size. Bodybuilding is not aimed at increasing strength, flexibility, endurance, speed or other athletic factors.
Functional training emerged primarily from the sports conditioning and rehabilitation world. By definition, functional training refers to a program integrating exercises which contribute to better, more efficient and safer performance of real life activities or athletic movements.
For example, functional training would help the average person develop strength that carries over into daily activities (ADL’s) such as pulling open a heavy door, hiking up trail, starting a lawnmower, carrying a child or reaching up and pulling down a bulky box from an overhead shelf.
If you’re an athlete, functional training will help improve your performance. You will improve your swing, throw farther, run faster or increase your vertical jump. Because functional training helps link your entire body together so it performs optimally as a cohesive unit, you’ll also decrease your chances of getting injured.
To the casual observer, a bodybuilder walking shirtless represents the epitome of health and fitness. This is simply because he “looks” like he’s in great shape. However, strength and conditioning coaches would be likely to spot a lot of problems simply by analyzing the bodybuilder’s posture, gait and exercise performance. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link and many bodybuilders may have some potentially dangerous weak links.
Functional training can help the bodybuilder strengthen these weak links, which left unattended, could lead to major injuries that could set them back for months.
The truth is that bodybuilding is not the worst form of strength training. Neither bodybuilders nor athletes have a training philosophy superior to the other. Each is simply training to achieve the specific goals. Success in either endeavor all boils down to knowing what you want and then choosing the appropriate tools to help you get there the fastest.
Just remember that a certain “look” you may be trying to achieve just might not be the best way out there.
Take off the blinders and take advantage of the other options!
By: Ryan Seykora

[jipped genes]

Re: Functional training vs. bodybuilding: The differences revealed

how true. we occasionally have big muscled up guys come in our gym and a few even have decent enough cardio to make it a few rounds but when the rubber hits the road they don't perform well with a BB body.

[ketsugo]

Re: Functional training vs. bodybuilding: The differences revealed

cardio really isnt functional training- Functional is performing exercises that mimic actual athletic movements or train your core or making sure you hit all the tiny muscles or the different fiber types. For example- as an athlete- I always consider the core- I try to do all things standing or with dumbells, my benching I perform with the large exercise ball. Adding some powerlifting moves can enhance explosiveness as well as power . If you are playing a sport you try to mimic movements that are similiar to what you practice- cardio to me is actually non-functional unless I do heavy knife or sword work non stop for my martial arts. Or if you are a golfer or baseball player you do cable woodchops or kettle bell or medcine ball woodchops to hit those muscles responsible for working together to swing a club or bat. The best way to point out what is not functional is using certain machines or isolation movements that take out the use of balance or using assistance muscles.