CHOICE FITNESS & SPORTS PERFORMANCE

Improving Functional Movement

 By Tyrone T. Irby and Kathy Fall 

What is functional movement?  Functional movements are movements that we perform throughout our daily lives. It includes sitting, pushing, pulling and even standing.  Movement is primarily multi-joint and in all planes of motion.  Human movement occurs in three planes of motion: frontal, saggital and transverse.  The frontal plane is movement laterally (side to side); the saggital plane is extension/flexion (forward and backward movements); and the transverse plane is rotational movement.  Most training centers on frontal and saggital movement.  Transverse movement is the one movement that is rarely trained and hence has the highest non-contact injury rate.  Pulled oblique, lower back and hip injuries are resulted from poor transverse movement patterns.  Training the movements that we use in regular life (i.e. functional movements) rather than muscles, helps prevent injuries, keeps our body’s natural alignment and provides for movement efficiency. 

The opposite of functional movement is dysfunction movement.  Dysfunctional movement is characterized by poor balance and stability, and the inability to “fire” the right muscles at the right time. When you are unable to activate muscles, it can lead to synergistic dominance which is a pattern of compensations that result from weakness or tightness in a muscle group.   In most instances this inability is because of lack of flexibility or poor core strength.  Adding resistance (or external loads) to a dysfunctional movement increases the degree of dysfunction and also exponentially heightens the risk of injury. 

A functional movement assessment should be performed before beginning any training or strength program.  Enabling dysfunctional movements will likely result in injury, and possibly serious injury.  Several simple but effective movement assessments can be performed including the overhead squat test, single leg squat test, gait test and stance test.  All of the tests are performed with body weight only.  If compensations exist or if there is pain while performing the tests, resistance training is strongly discouraged until corrective strategies are implemented.  After corrective exercises are implemented, assessments should take place at least every 90 days.  There should be a training progression of:  stability to strength to power.Weight and strength training for sports has been dominated by external resistance (weights) and how much can you move.  Who is stronger: a man that can bench press 450lbs or a man that can perform 60 military pushups without compensation in one minute?  Functionally it is rare in life that you will need to bench press 450lb but it is often that we need to use a pushing movement for an activity such as pushing a baby stroller, moving a desk or putting groceries in a cabinet. Who is stronger:  an athlete that can back squat 500 lbs or one that can perform a perfect single leg pistol squat without compensations with their own body weight.  Sports and life are dominated by single leg activities (walking is classified as a single leg activity).  The ability to stabilize your body on one leg without compensations is the key to developing strength and power.  Think about a wide receiver catching a ball while at full speed and landing.  Again, it is rare they will land with two feet but land on one while continuing to stride forward. Or a basketball player jumping for a rebound or block shot needs to have the ability to explosively jump with both or one leg and land in the same position without compensation.  To be effective, both of those movements have to be practiced and performed hundreds of times until they are almost natural. 

The athlete shouldn’t have to think about it but just do it.  Achieving uni-lateral strength along with bi-lateral strength should be the goal of any training program. 

What parts of the body should be trained for functional movements?  The entire core muscle group (transverse abdominus, obliques, lumbar pelvic hip region, rectus abdominus, and gluteal group) should be trained whenever you are resistance training, but the most important muscle group that is the linchpin for movement is the gluteal group.  This group is comprised of the gluteus minimus, gluteus medius and the gluteus maximus.    Common postural deviations include:  knee valgus (knees caving inward when squatting), foot pronation (feet rotating inward when squatting) and asymmetrical weight shifting (characterized by “twitch” in the lower extremities while squatting). 

The gluteus maximus is one of the strongest and most important muscles in the human body.  The gluteal group is responsible for flexion, extension, and rotation in the lower extremities.  In any fitness assessment the glutes should be tested both together and individually.  In a sedentary lifestyle which includes a lot of sitting, the glutes when not used constantly and properly may begin to atrophy leading to more compensations.  In the asymmetrical weight shifts during squatting movements, this means that one glute is “firing” and the other is not.  Weak glutes can lead to lower back injury.  It is important to remember that 80% of Americans suffer from lower back injury in their lifetimes. 

For athletes, glute activation is essential not only in performing Olympic lifts (known as the best exercises to build power and explosion) but also in the sports arena.  All sports utilize single leg movements so the inability to fire glutes individually severely hampers the explosiveness of the athlete. 

For everyday movement, glute activation and strengthening provides balance in squatting movements.  Proper squatting (sitting technique) is to “break the hips” and sit down.  Upon rising, activating the glutes (squeezing them) and rising is the best way to prevent falls, knee injuries and back problems.  Practicing good functional movement patterns is essential in establishing quality of life. 

As trainers we use the term “quality of life” frequently.  For our clients that want to look and feel better, it has to begin with quality of life.  The ability to move without pain or compensation is something that is taken for granted.  Research has shown migraines and lower back pain are primarily the result of dysfunctional movement patterns in addition to stress.  Improving functional movements without medication takes patience but is well worth the effort.  Chiropractors are extremely useful after a severe injury.  Training for functional movement can help eliminate the risk of injury, save time off from work and improve quality of life.  In life and in sports, sometimes it is important to take a step backward before taking a step forward.

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