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(Published April 25, 2022)
Functional fitness/strength training is all the rage nowadays. When you ask people to define it, they usually give you something along the lines of developing strength in movements and ranges of motion that enable you to go about the activities of everyday life as easily and effectively as possible.
Based on that definition, the goal of functional fitness is not to help you lift insanely heavy weights, to get a six pack, or to look like the next Marvel Movie Action Superhero.
But, when you see the words functional fitness or functional strength training in an advertisement you’ll see images of folks in action hero shape, complete with six pack abs, performing absolutely grueling tasks and lifting insanely heavy weights.
Ready-for-anything-everyday-life-throws-at-you somehow became ready-for-the-zombie-apocalypse!
It’s not enough to say you’ll get in shape. This product will turn you into a Navy SEAL, Batman and James Bond, all rolled into one. In other words, this product will turn you into such a badass that after taking one look at you, nobody in their right mind would ever dream of messing with you.
Look at an advertisement for just about any workout or piece of fitness equipment nowadays with the word functional attached to it, and you’re likely to see claims like the following:
The single best workout/strength building/conditioning tool for fighters
Develop all-purpose strength to easily handle the toughest and most unexpected demand
Maximize stamina because the last round decides all
Watch in amazement as you hack the fat off your body
Forge a fighter's physique
That last one cracks me up. “Forge a fighter’s physique… because form must follow function!”
I had buddy who once told me, “I don’t do CrossFit to look like I do CrossFit. I do CrossFit so that I can eat like I do, and still look like this.”
Call me crazy, but I respect that a whole lot more than someone who spends hours lifting weights with the goal of looking like he could beat you up.
Here’s an idea. If you want to look like a fighter, and form must necessarily follow function, you could try… I don’t know… fighting?
I guess what it all comes down to is would you rather be the man or just look the part?
If you really want real world functional of strength, I don’t think you can go wrong with BJJ.
Years of doing any physical activity generally makes you better at that activity. If that activity involves strength, you generally get stronger. Grappling in general, and Jiu-Jitsu in particular are no different.
In BJJ, you are basically moving another body around that wants to be moved. That’s about as functional as it gets in my book. You can’t help but get stronger doing it. And it’s one heck of a lot more fun than spending hours at the weight rack.
Oh by the way, if form really does follow function, then it’s probably the safest, most effective exercise component you can get to help you build that fighter’s physique, because It’s about as close to fighting as it gets without having to worry about getting hit in the face. Just understand that you could end up looking more like Butter Bean, than a young Mike Tyson depending on how many chocolate chip cookies you eat. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Years of doing a physical activity generally make you very physically powerful and efficient at that activity. Grappling is no different. A big part of strength is neural, and if you've spent decades hoisting people in the air you've built up a great ability for your body to act in concert to do that lift. Keep in mind too that there are all sorts of small, stabilizing muscles that assist in a dynamic activity like lifting a squirming human and the best way to develop those is by lifting squirming humans repeatedly. So 'grappling strength' is just a combination of efficiency of force production (you're not wasting effort to lift someone like a novice would), high level of coordination, and no weak points in the chain that allow you do perform the lift. Certainly weight training will help, if you have a 600 lb deadlift it's going to be comparatively easy for you to lift a 200 lb man into the air, but it's still not exactly the same as just lifting people for 20 years like Khabib has.
"Old man strength" is the same idea. After decades of grabbing heavy squirming things you develop great hand-core core integration via stabilizer muscles and your grips feel like cast iron even if you aren't necessarily that strong on olympic lifts.
- Mike
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