08/29/2026
“FUNCTIONAL TRAINING” HAS BECOME A NONSENSE TERM….usually accompanied by silly exercises that yield no results.
I hear it all the time:
“I don’t want to lift weights. I want to do functional training.”
Okay… functional for WHAT?
That’s the part everyone leaves out.
Training is “functional” if it improves your ability to do the things you need or want to do.
Guess what…. Nothing is more “functional” that a barbell squat!
If you’re a runner, stronger legs are functional.
If you’re 70 years old, getting stronger so you can get off the floor, carry groceries and climb stairs is functional.
If you’re a parent, being strong enough to pick up your kid without hurting your back is functional.
Even building muscle is functional. Muscle helps you produce force, protects your joints, supports your metabolism and gives you more physical capacity as you age.
Somewhere along the way, though, “functional training” started meaning:
Stand on something unstable while holding a kettlebell, balancing on one leg, twisting, pressing and trying not to fall over. 😂
That isn’t automatically more “functional” than a squat, deadlift, row, press, carry or pull-up.
Sometimes it’s just making a simple exercise unnecessarily complicated.
There’s no special category called “functional” exercise.
There are exercises.
Some are better than others.
