BBJ Fitness Corner | Traditional Strength vs Functional Fitness Training | Sports

“When I was still a CNMI national basketball player, I always thought I had to be lean and stacked to be one of the best players,” said National Academy of Sports Medicine certified personal trainer Jerry Diaz.

What he ultimately learned from his coach, he added, was the importance of endurance while remaining effective against players who had prepared for intense high-level competition.

But as a trainer, he tells his clients that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to physical training and instead they should focus on a program that allows an individual to safely adopt security a traditional approach to muscular or functional training.

Diaz said functional training is “a total body workout that helps support an individual’s natural movements.”

He said functional physical training uses various methods that involve body weight, total resistance exercises or TRX, kettlebells, resistance bands, sandbags and medicine balls.

These will improve strength performance which, in turn, will help prevent injury or overtraining, Diaz said.

Functional physical training is a modern approach currently used by many professional athletes, personal trainers and physical education teachers, Diaz said.

As for the traditional approach to strength training, he said it’s also known as weight training which can build strength that doesn’t necessarily align with an individual’s fitness goals. These are usually dumbbells, dumbbells or cables and other machines.

Individuals should use each individual machine to focus on a specific muscle. This workout is ideal for strength training.

When asked about weightlifting or powerlifting, Diaz said they needed proper training advice.

“The most ideal physical training approach is to match the health and wellness goals of the individual so that they can learn, adapt and grow safely and gradually through principles of proper movement and a proper nutrition program,” he added.

For more information and professional fitness inquiries, contact Jerry Diaz via Instagram at @BBJ_Athletics or Facebook.