Getting to the core: implementing a functional training program.

Over the last few years, many high school strength programs, borrowing a page from the professional and collegiate ranks, have incorporated workouts designed to strengthen muscles of the "core" of the body--the trunk and pelvis--in addition to the muscles of the shoulders, arms, and legs.

According to the cognoscenti, functional training should be the core of a fitness program for anyone who wants to develop strength, skill, agility, and balance for sports. The popular theory is, if your core is deficient, than your arms and legs have nothing to anchor themselves to.

"There's been a dramatic shift on the high school level over the last three years in the type of equipment and the application of the equipment," says Darwin Takkinen, Chief Engineer for New York Barbell of Elmira. "What you used to see was the squat, bench press, and the dead lift. Then you saw a little bit of dumbbell work. Now you are seeing all of these innovative exercises and many ways to protect the athlete."

Core training, especially for athletes, should be specific to the required sports' skills. Muscle groups in the core may be more or less important for a given individual.

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Essentially, athletes should train for the sport(s) they play and focus on the best training activities that mimic their respective sports' movements. Training on traditional weight machines will help an athlete become good at lifting or pushing those weights on the machine. But that won't necessarily translate into a sport-specific movement.

That's not to say that all machines are anti-core training. New York Barbell, for one, builds and sells two such machines: the Glute-Hamstring machine and its Hip Extension machine. According to Takkinen, the former builds the glutes, hamstrings, lower back, and diaphragm. The latter is a total all-around machine for building core strength.

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Perform Better's new Keiser Infinity Functional Trainer is yet another functional training-friendly machine that can be used for hundreds of different exercises, ranging from rehabilitation to sports-specific applications and is one of the most basic and versatile cable machines available, according to the company.

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The functional trainer incorporates two adjustable arms, which accommodate high/low training positions. The ability to train at any speed and without any impact makes it the product of choice for many different applications, says Chris Poirier, Sales Manager for MF Athletic/Perform Better.

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"The premise of functional training is going towards total body movement and getting away from isolation," he says.

Medicine and stability balls have always been key elements of functional training. However, they are not the only tools in the draw, so to speak.

Robert Lindsey, Marketing Manager for Power Systems, Inc., suggests that other equipment, such as Power-Strap balls, Power Grip bags and kettle Bells, among the many products his company offers, provide exceptional workouts.

"Power Grip bags, that are basically big sandbags that run from 25 to 45 pounds, can be used while constantly shifting," he says. "You can hold them in front of you and squat or place them over your head and squat or do lunges with them. It's unstable and total body.

"Kettle bells are making a huge comeback," Lindsey added. "They were big back in the 1950s. Just look in those old muscleman books. You swing them and do different movements with them. You can do snatches and cleans like Olympic lifts, one arm at a time, which sometimes is hard to do with a dumbbell because of the way it twists in your hand."

Made of cast iron, kettle bells can be traced back to the Chinese over 1,500 years ago. The original design was a kettle filled with sand. The Russians, who used kettle bells as a staple of their athletic programs, popularized them during World War II. Today, they provide a whole series of explosive-type exercises--squats, pulls, and overhead throws--to develop strength, power, and balance.

Lindsey also touted the use of agility ladders, indicating that high schools are gravitating towards them because the ladders are easy to use and provide a plethora of sports-related uses. You can train a football team or a girl's soccer team or a volleyball team.

"Anything to get kids' feet moving quicker and changing direction will make them better athletes," says Lindsey.

Takkinen also promotes the use of kettle bells, while touting items such as a safety squat bar, bow bar, and strong man competition-type products such as the steel logs and the Farmer's Walk weights.

"The trend is a combination of the trickle down effect from the pros and colleges in addition to the hiring of strength and conditioning coaches on the scholastic level," Takkinen says. "Coaches who were ahead of the curve began implementing core training into their teaching methods. Everything is: try to get bigger, try to get stronger, and try to get faster."

Functional equals practical. Practical equals results.

"The schools that do have a strength coach have become much more knowledgeable in regards to functional training," says MF Athletic/Perform Better's Poirier. "It's not something that has been handed down. There's been a lot more education based around it from research and from a lot of very good strength coaches lecturing on functional training."

RACK 'EM UP

While functional training has become all the rage, modular rack systems have become commonplace in high school weight rooms.

"We're seeing a trend towards the modular rack system. Where you can do your bench, squat, or hand clean," says Mike Richardson, Sales & Marketing Coordinator for PowerLift. "You can do all your major lifts at one station. Coaches love it because it's easier to supervise and easier to coach."

As Richardson noted, typically, athletes are placed into groups of three users: One athlete works, one spots, and one rests. Rather than have six power racks, six bench presses, and six inclines, a modular system is more compact while providing a coach with a better view of a structured workout.

AD's tend to prefer a modular system because it usually ends up costing less than an individual station for everything. It's also appealing to females because it is not quite as intimidating and is much more organized.

The most common piece PowerLift sells is the standard half-rack: a half-rack with a bench and an Olympic lifting platform all attached. It's very space conscious. What's more, the logo option on the platform is attractive to high schools because it promotes school spirit.

"The biomechanics that are involved in creating a rack are very important," Richardson says. "You have to try and make the piece fit every user. We take a look at how the body works and how it bends. Before we create a product, we place a computer-generated model into a unit and see how the body works with it. Biomechanics are definitely something a school should consider before making a purchase."