Functional Strength Training

What is Functional Strength Training? What that means is that the lifting you’re doing is designed to increase the amount of weight you can move in the Bench Press, Back Squat, and Deadlift movements while also making you better outside of the gym. 

Adding the “Functional” moniker before “Powerlifting” is important because many people are powerlifting while making themselves worse outside the gym. I know this because I’ve trained powerlifters and worked out with them. Most of the powerlifters I was around were in pain. Many of them were in severe pain and had been for years. They think of their pain as something you’re just supposed to push through. Others see it as a badge of honor and brag about it. 

The truth is that pain during training and lifting is a warning that something isn’t right. It could be musculoskeletal, related to poor movement, or physiological and a sign that biological mechanisms have gone awry. Regardless of the cause, it is vital to identify the etiology of one’s discomfort and remediate it, or that warning could lead to injury or severe disease.

What is Movement Restoration?

I am a Movement Restoration Specialist. My role is to identify dysfunction and remedy it. Very often, when I find a dysfunctional gross motor movement i.e. the Deadlift, Squat or Bench, after remediating one or more components of the movement in question, pain is no longer present and my trainee is able to lift much more weight than they thought they could! 

Dysfunction doesn’t just cause pain, it also lowers efficiency thereby the lowering the amount of weight one is able to move. I’ve helped a lot of people get stronger simply by correcting their form or prescribing corrective exercises. The people who listen to me and apply everything that I teach improve. Many of them improve dramatically, which you can read about in my Case Studies.

The devil is in the details.

The difference between a functional and a dysfunctional lift is not very big. My years of experience have taught me how to identify subtle dysfunction at a glance. A knee too far forward, a pelvis that rotates improperly, an arch that collapses, sending a knee into valgus, a thoracic spine in too much kyphosis, etc. are just a few of the Motor Errors (MEs) I see daily.

I don’t ignore MEs. I address them immediately and ensure that corrections are integrated into gross motor tasks. Our body doesn’t just integrate proper movement into exercises we do in my facility - it continues to apply that knowledge to everything movement beyond the gym. 

Whether it’s carrying groceries, playing with kids, or climbing mountains and skiing down them, proper movement helps my clients stay active and push themselves to their limits safely.

Functional Powerlifting makes this possible by ensuring that my clients can move a lot of weight properly when called upon. Make sure you check out the case studies that detail the journeys of just a few of the hundreds of people I’ve had the pleasure of working with.

I will discuss many many MEs in detail as well as how to remedy them. Make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss anything!

If you have any questions or want to schedule a consultation, please feel free to email me at Ben@brickmanmovement.com.