© Wayne Rodgers 2018 – all material is original content and may only be printed, reproduced or distributed with permission from Health Adventure.

www.KLT.fitness

Should Athletes Train Like Body-Builders?

The Question Has Been Asked Before

I first heard the question “Should athletes train like bodybuilders?” asked well over a decade ago during a presentation at FILEX – Australia’s annual international fitness industry convention. Paul Chek (a well respected functional strength expert from the USA) was bold enough to stand in front of a large audience of his peers and challenge many well-established traditions of resistance training - strongly suggesting that we should seriously consider the obvious lack of value of a traditional, (body-building) isolation approach to resistance training, when training athletes. Most body building training exercises have developed with one primary goal – that being muscle hypertrophy for the sake of physique transformation – with little evidence of (or focus on) any translation to improved sports performance. Despite many years passing in the world of gym training and strength & conditioning, and evidence of a gradual acceptance of functional training exercises sneaking into a few athletes’ gym programs, the words of Mr. Check unfortunately still ring true:

“Many athletic programs and professional sport’s teams still use body-building machines and (outdated) protocols to condition athletes. When we consider that most bodybuilding exercises require neuromuscular isolation (aiming to overload individual single muscles), not integration (working multiple muscles and muscles groups in a co-ordinated manner) and virtually every sport or functional activity known to man requires high levels of neuromuscular integration, we are off to a bad start” - Paul Chek

Athletes of all levels of achievement, recreational to elite, all perform better when they possess adequate (or in some cases, exceptional) physical abilities. Athletic abilities, which we can aim to enhance from appropriate resistance training, include neuromuscular co-ordination and optimal load sharing, both of which require efficient integration of muscular contractions in three dimensions of motion. Add to this the desire to improve elements of fitness such as postural control, dynamic stability, balance, agility and explosive power – and we are driven towards a style of training known as Functional Strength and Conditioning.

So, what constitutes appropriate “functional” resistance training for athletes?

The definition of functional is: “it serves the purpose for which it was intended and it delivers a practical or good outcome”. During my education of both my clients and fellow health and fitness professionals, I often suggest that a “good outcome” from training for an athlete would be “a pain-free body that moves with ease, efficiency, strength and control in three-dimensions, now and for years to come” along with a noticeable improvement in sports performance and injury prevention.

I believe it takes a certain style of functional resistance training to deliver this good (great) outcome.

by Wayne Rodgers Sports Physiotherapist and KLT Functional Strength Coach

© Wayne Rodgers 2018 – all material is original content and may only be printed, reproduced or distributed with permission from Health Adventure.

www.KLT.fitness

Sports and Daily Living Require Internal Stability

Furthermore, consider that many traditional gym exercises do not require you to maintain your centre of gravity over your own base of support, as they are performed on seats and benches.

When one is sitting on a seat or lying on a bench, the stability requirements of the exercise are taken care of "artificially" by the provision of the external support – we have provided "external stability", This style of resistance training requires little or no activation of postural muscles and in many cases minimal activation of the deep stabilisers of the shoulder girdle, spine, pelvis, hips etc.

The term "conditional strength" is one that may be used to describe the strength of an exercise that is present on the condition that the seat or bench is present. For example, the maximum strength developed in the anterior pushing action of the bench press is ultimately only achieved on the condition that one is lying on a bench.

Sporting activity and many activities of daily living typically require significant “internal stability” – that is, generating motion and posture control through your own inner unit and outer unit stabiliser muscle activation.

In summary, it is typically the case that a body-building (isolation) approach to strength training is a poor choice for improving the athletic abilities mentioned above - neuromuscular co-ordination, postural control and dynamic stability. To quote Paul Check once more ... It is a fact that, in complete contrast to sporting activities, “there is not much need to co-ordinate muscular activity or activate stabilisers and postural muscles when sitting on a machine (or lying on a bench) with a huge base of support that is bolted to the floor”.

As a sports physiotherapist with over three decades experience in both physiotherapy and the fitness industry, my passion for functional strength training and one particular method for effective athletic strengthening Kinetic Link Training www.KLT.fitness has developed exponentially over the past 15 years as I witness more and more athletes, and physiotherapy rehabilitation clients, benefiting greatly from moving away from a traditional (body-building) isolation approach to resistance training and embracing integrated full-body functional strength training in the gym.

© Wayne Rodgers 2018 – all material is original content and may only be printed, reproduced or distributed with permission from Health Adventure.

www.KLT.fitness

Let’s now explore a comparison between the features of a typical body-building (traditional) exercise with a typical Kinetic Link Training (functional) exercise.

Traditional vs Functional

By examining the contrast between different pulling and pushing exercises we can see a clear distinction between traditional and functional strength training. The first image below shows a very popular “body-building” gym exercise – the Lat Pull Down. The second and third image shows a less popular (but more athletic) “functional” strength exercise – the single arm posterior pull with a low cable plus a full split squat.

We can also compare the very popular Bench Press with the far more athletic Kinetic Link Training exercise – anterior push with mid-cables plus an anterior and lateral lunge

Traditional Functional

© Wayne Rodgers 2018 – all material is original content and may only be printed, reproduced or distributed with permission from Health Adventure.

www.KLT.fitness

Features of Traditional (Isolation) Bodybuilding Strength Training Exercises

• Commonly isolation exercises with a focus on individual muscles.

• Stability is often provided from external supports – a reliance on seats and benches.

• Limited need to activate postural control muscles and stabilisers.

• Rarely mimic everyday activities or sporting activities.

• The trunk rarely rotates as most upper body movements are bilateral.

• Movements are commonly in a sagittal plane of motion only.

• Limbs rarely cross the midline. • Movements may often appear to be rigid and

robotic in nature. • Rarely require balance, proprioception, co-

ordination or concentration. • Typically simple to learn – very popular with

most gym goers.

Features of Functional (Integration) Strength Training Exercises

• Compound whole body exercises with a focus on integrated movement.

• Rely totally on internal dynamic stability - no seats and no benches.

• Activation of postural stabilisers and core control muscles is essential.

• Mimics or supports activities of daily living and sporting activities.

• Commonly involve trunk rotation with single arm or alternating arm movements

• Movements in multiple planes – three dimensional motion.

• May often involve limbs crossing the midline • Movements should appear stable yet smooth,

fluid and graceful in nature. • Require balance, proprioception,

concentration and co-ordination. • Rarely used by gym goers and used by too few

athletes.

© Wayne Rodgers 2018 – all material is original content and may only be printed, reproduced or distributed with permission from Health Adventure.

www.KLT.fitness

Wayne Rodgers Wayne is an APA sports physiotherapist and functional strength coach with 30 years experience in the health and fitness industries. He regular runs courses and workshops around the world which fully explore an athletic approach to functional strength and conditioning and his unique systematic approach to biomechanically balanced training – Kinetic Link Training. He has delivered over 3000 hours of professional development education to physiotherapists, exercise & fitness professionals and corporate audiences over the past 20 years.

Wayne has been a sports physiotherapist for several national and international sports teams (Australian Commonwealth Games team, Australian Netball team). Formerly a senior physiotherapist at Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne, he is the founder and senior sports physiotherapist at Sunshine Coast Sports Physiotherapy, Queensland, Australia. He also runs a successful and inspirational functional fitness coaching business, fully utilising functional training techniques.

Contact Wayne Rodgers (wayne@KLT.fitness) or find more information about Kinetic Link Training (Functional Strength and Conditioning) professional development courses at www.KLT.fitness