training. In each movement, various muscles are involved and they all play a different role. The central nervous system, responsible for muscle activation, is programmed for integrated kinetic chain movement which involves the agonist (prime mover), antagonist (opposite to prime mover), synergists (assist prime mover), stabilizers (which stabilize joints while prime movers and synergists perform movement), and neutralizers (which counteract unwanted action of others muscles), all these together work to reproduce an efficient movements. The body is not designed for isolated muscle function. Each movement requires an integration of various muscles. It has been shown that the body responds better to training in an unstable environment which challenge the nervous system. This is the reason why functional training uses so many tools to create instability. To train function, an exercise must engage the superficial core muscles to help produce force, reduce force, or dynamically stabilize the spine, along with the deep inner unit musculature to provide segmental stability and stiffness to the spine. To be functional, an upper body exercise must also activate shoulder joint stabilizers and neutralizers and a lower body exercise must activate the hip, knee and ankle joint stabilizers. These exercises also need to balance body segments over one’s base of support and challenge the body to maintain ideal posture. The body is designed to work as a unit with muscles are firing up in a specific sequence to produce the desired movement. Popular Strength Coach from International Performance Institute, Mark Verstegen says “Your world is 360 degrees; it’s chaos”. In other words, your body needs to train at every angle and in every plane to mimic real life. Functional training is also based on the principle of individualization. What is functional for one, is not necessarily functional for another. Each individual has diffe...
