Years ago a friend of mine named Frank received a birthday gift from his kids - an international golf membership at Royal Dornoch in Scotland. That summer he timed his arrival for the senior club championship where he proudly found himself on the first tee, swinging his driver to warm up. The local pro wandered over, introduced himself and said in a deep brogue, "Laddie, that's the finest swing of that kind I've ever seen . . . but we don't swing that way over here. Let me show you . . ." During play, Frank hung in as long as he could for someone not knowing the course. The wheels of his three-handicap, one-of-a-kind swing came off early in the back nine.
Lately, I feel like the last of the Mohicans in a gym, the place in which I once felt most comfortable. Education from my mentor, Arthur Jones, and certification as a HIT (High Intensity Training) practitioner have all but left me standing alone, like Frank on the first tee. "He's the finest trainer of that kind I've ever seen," they say, "but we don't train that way here. Let me show you . . ."
And what I'm shown is functional training - no weights, no barbells, no machines - exercise performed essentially using body weight as resistance. Are you kidding? As Arthur once put it in his own brogue, "It is rather easy to establish bullshit; and once established, it is impossible to eradicate." Is high-intensity training not functional? Or as functional as functional training? Show me your results and I'll show you mine. Then, let the chips fall where they may.
In a West Point Academy study in the mid-1970's, Jones took half the cadets on the football team and ran them through his version of "proper strength training" - a brief circuit of high-intensity exercise that targeted the major muscle groups important to football. No barbells, no free-hand exercise, machines only, three 25-minute sessions per week. His group increased their strength in six weeks by 60%, decreased their time to run two-miles (part of everyone's training) by 88 seconds, increased their flexibility, reduced body fat significantly, and suffered no injuries in the process, despite practicing football at the same time. The results were compared to the other half of the team who continued to train using traditional football methods. It was no contest. Proper Strength Training. Brief. Hard. Not good enough? Put your best functional training research results up against that and I'll guarantee less results in every category - less strength, less cardiovascular effect, less flexibility, less fat loss and increased injury. My money's on the table.
The results of "Project Total Conditioning" could not be duplicated by any other method, a fact made clear to Dr. Kenneth Cooper whose team measured the cardiovascular results - 60 different tests. When Dr. Cooper viewed the summary on his desk, the man who firmly believed that strength training had no significant cardiovascular benefit ripped it up and threw it in the garbage. "These results are impossible!" he claimed. Jones eventually heard about the response and called the famous doctor. "Yes, Dr. Cooper, those results are impossible, the stupid way you do cardiovascular training. They are only possible by performing proper strength training."
Functional? Very. My money's on the table.
Lately, I feel like the last of the Mohicans in a gym, the place in which I once felt most comfortable. Education from my mentor, Arthur Jones, and certification as a HIT (High Intensity Training) practitioner have all but left me standing alone, like Frank on the first tee. "He's the finest trainer of that kind I've ever seen," they say, "but we don't train that way here. Let me show you . . ."
And what I'm shown is functional training - no weights, no barbells, no machines - exercise performed essentially using body weight as resistance. Are you kidding? As Arthur once put it in his own brogue, "It is rather easy to establish bullshit; and once established, it is impossible to eradicate." Is high-intensity training not functional? Or as functional as functional training? Show me your results and I'll show you mine. Then, let the chips fall where they may.
In a West Point Academy study in the mid-1970's, Jones took half the cadets on the football team and ran them through his version of "proper strength training" - a brief circuit of high-intensity exercise that targeted the major muscle groups important to football. No barbells, no free-hand exercise, machines only, three 25-minute sessions per week. His group increased their strength in six weeks by 60%, decreased their time to run two-miles (part of everyone's training) by 88 seconds, increased their flexibility, reduced body fat significantly, and suffered no injuries in the process, despite practicing football at the same time. The results were compared to the other half of the team who continued to train using traditional football methods. It was no contest. Proper Strength Training. Brief. Hard. Not good enough? Put your best functional training research results up against that and I'll guarantee less results in every category - less strength, less cardiovascular effect, less flexibility, less fat loss and increased injury. My money's on the table.
The results of "Project Total Conditioning" could not be duplicated by any other method, a fact made clear to Dr. Kenneth Cooper whose team measured the cardiovascular results - 60 different tests. When Dr. Cooper viewed the summary on his desk, the man who firmly believed that strength training had no significant cardiovascular benefit ripped it up and threw it in the garbage. "These results are impossible!" he claimed. Jones eventually heard about the response and called the famous doctor. "Yes, Dr. Cooper, those results are impossible, the stupid way you do cardiovascular training. They are only possible by performing proper strength training."
Functional? Very. My money's on the table.
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