To better understand what Sport Specific and/or Functional Training is, we first have to define the terms Specific and Function.
Specific -
1. precise: precise and detailed, avoiding vagueness
2. relating to identified thing: acting on or relating to something identified or particularized
3. distinctive: with individual qualities that allow a distinction to be made or make a distinction necessary
Function -
1. purpose: an action or use for which something is suited or designed
2. role: an activity or role assigned to somebody or something
Sport Specific/Functional Training -
Training movents that directly relate (specific) to your prefered activity (function) whether you are training for competition or life.
Although the commonly used term Functional Training is used to describe training for everyday activities, and Sport Specific Training is used to describe training for an athletic endevour, they both really refer to the same thing, and that is to make the task at hand easier to handle while minimizing the occurance of injury.
This training should consist of:
1. Training systematically: Training with a plan to get us from point A to point B.
2. Training progressively: Basic conditioning and skill acquisition before advanced conditioning and skill execution. Slow and controlled to fast and chaotic.
3. Training proprioceptively: Training in an environment that teaches the Central Nervous System how to communicate more efficiently with the rest of the body.
4. Training multi-planar movements: A training approach that prepares us to optimally stabilize multiple muscle and joint systems in a 360 degree fashion.
5. Training dynamically: A training environment that allows us to dynamically load multiple muscle systems to create powerful movement
6. Training specificity: Mimic the target activity. This includes all of the appropriate joints as well as the speed and amplitude of movements. The principle of specificity dictates that you “train like you play/live.”