Function: re- re- visited

In my younger days, in good 'ole Alabama, my pops, bro and I had a nightly ritual of sitting around doing homework for at least 2 hours before dessert and bedtime. Learning to spell the word 'society' was my version of trying to down brussel sprouts: it ain't gonna happen. (For any of you spelling bee champs out there, I before E except after C, ahem). Needless to say, having ingrained that saying in my head from school, the spelling always came out wrong. So my dearest father, being the genius that he is would have me spell society 5 times. Without interruption, without break, 5 times, and this method usually worked. Thank God for spell check!

It's funny the little things that you pick up from your parents without even realizing it. So here I am channeling my beloved father and sprinkling his teaching philosophies all over you guys like Emeril adds flavor to his dishes, "BAM!"

Function, function, function you might be saying in a slightly high-pitched, nasally, Jan Brady voice. Fret not, oh faithful readers, it will all be over before you can say blueberry pancakes and hopefully you will have gained some insight as to why I am always going on about form!

What goes into physical function and why is it so important?? Why I'm so glad you asked!

• Muscle Performance
  
  Muscle performance is how well your muscles are equipped to handle the demands placed upon them. Proper form during exercise lends to this in a huge way. To exercise with the intention to activate specific muscles, we must set our body up so that it can be successful. Muscles can be tricky in that if you challenge them too much, they will recruit their buddies to come aboard to help out. This causes substitution (translation: one muscle is doing the majority of the work for the others) and can lead to poor postural adaptations.


• Flexibility/Mobility
  
  Do your muscles have enough length to work properly? Stretching out shortened muscles can help you achieve muscular balance. READ: taller posture, stronger muscles, less injury.


• Balance & Coordination
  
  Balance and coordination are achieved when signals to the brain and back to the muscles are matched for body alignment, timing and sequencing of muscle firing. These signals can become crossed when poor movement patterns take over as in injury. One common example is with repetitive ankle sprains. Your brain loses connection with the receptors in your ankle when repetitive trauma occurs, this lends to poor balance strategies at the ankle, putting you at greater risk for more sprains. It is a vicious cycle.


• Cardiovasular fitness
  
  Endurance plays a big role in how long you can sustain any given activity or a chain of activities throughout the day. Can you perform all 10 repetitions before you lose your form?
  


• Neuromuscular control
  
  This is the interaction of your muscle systems with your brain and spinal cord in order to produce desired movement patterns. Teaching your body to move a certain way takes learning and sometimes re-learning. Once we fall into a certain movement pattern (which may be inefficient) it requires concentration and repetition to unwire those connections and form new ones. Remember, practice makes perfect!
  

Why is this important to me??

All aspects of physical function coincide to produce the movement patterns we use to accomplish daily tasks. It is essential to provide yourself an environment by which these aspects can interact with optimal success in order to achieve maximal benefit from exercise. This is why it is important to understand why form is a crucial thing to strength training. Because form is the key which help you to attain successful muscle growth corresponding to healthy movement. Proper form during exercise can help you move better, be taller and live injury free!!

I know I harp on about this, but I truly feel that it is important to not only learn how, but to learn why.

Am I just beating on a dead horse or have you gained some more insight about WHY form and attention to function in training is important?

What is on your weight training agenda these days? Have any goals you want to share? Are you really into circuits or reverse push ups or cardio right now?