When choosing an exercise it is important to have a goal or specific purpose for each exercise. Many athletes don’t realize that every exercise will fall on a spectrum with function being on one side and strength on the other. Functional exercises are generally compound exercises (meaning they work a group of muscles involving more than one joint) that consist of movements that we do everyday. A good example of this is squats. Every time we get out of a chair, from bed, or even the car, we perform a squatting motion. Furthermore, every time an athlete starts a jumping motion, he or she will squat and then jump. On the other end of the spectrum, strength exercises isolate one muscle group and while they may make that muscle stronger it does not mimic a movement individuals do everyday. A good example of this is a prone hamstring curl. Rarely, is an athlete during a competition going to rest prone on his or her stomach and then flex their knees. While strength training is needed, I implore athletes to try to pick more functional exercises over just strength training. Generally, standing exercises are more functional than laying or sitting. Here are a couple of exercises or choices of function vs. strength.
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