We spoke with Vic Spatola, the director of personal training at Greenwood Athletic & Tennis Club, about the implications of functional training, and how it affects members.
Q: First of all, how do you define functional training?
A: To me, functional training is anything that helps you attain your results. Typically we refer to any activities that move in a multiple plane with resistance as a functional exercise. For instance, cable wood chop, Kettlebell swings and doing suspended pull-ups would all be considered a functional movement. But truly, they are just exercises and not considered functional until they are applied to the client and that client’s goals.
Q: How can personal trainers incorporate functional training into everyday personal training sessions?
A: Simple. Any exercise that involves clients to either move or stabilize in more than one plane can be considered a functional movement. A very good example of this is having a client stand on one foot and perform a bicep curl. This is an exercise I give to seniors I train to improve balance and coordination. They must stabilize in one plane of movement while moving in another. Trainers have to look at their client and learn how to incorporate functional exercises to meet those client needs. If a trainer becomes creative, they can create a program where movement and resistance in multiple planes creats new results for clients. Again, it doesn’t take much to make it a functional exercise, just a little creativity.
Q: What are basic functional training moves members can do themselves?
A: Standing on one foot, performing a forward or backward lunge, squatting — all while performing a upper body exercise. For instance, a drop back lunge and a medicine ball twist is a good one. Another would be a lateral squat and an overhead press. Let your trainers show their expertise to members by educating members on how to do some of these exercises on their own. There are hundreds of exercises, and different tools you can use to incorporate this type of training into your club.
Q: What functional training certification do you find to be the most valuable?
A: For our trainers, I require NASM. They have a good basic program based on a movement analysis and a functional education program that incorporates this type of training into a program that even the novice trainer can follow. They also have a progressive view on training and functional movement. Other certifications for specific tools are good such as TRX, Cross Core, Kettlebells, and Power Plate. PT on the Net is another great resource for trainers as they [offer] good education and programs with functional movements and descriptions, to help educate clients.
Q: Has incorporating functional training into a routine affected one of Greenwood’s members for the better? If so, could you share their story?
A: Too many to say. We have clients from every walk of life that benefit from this form of training. We have a large number of golfers who, when we incorporate multi-plane movement training see tremendous increases in range of motion and swing capacity.
