Functional strength training is a form of exercise that focuses on developing strength in patterns that are used in everyday life. This type of training involves free weights, gymnastic moves, and aerobic training.

You progress the strength continuum from the left to the right, starting with slow and intense contractions and moving to faster and less intense contractions. Developing the strength continuum in this way allows for maximal expression across the continuum over time.

At our latest quarterly Lunch and Learn OPEX Instructor Carl Hardwick hosted an educational meetup for local Arizona coaches to discuss how to use concurrent training to program for strength, power, and endurance. 

As we age, we all begin to suffer from metabolic syndrome, osteopenia (loss of bone density) and sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass). Typically these will be accompanied by a man-made side effect of aging, polypharmacy. Medical professionals will typically prescribe a multitude of medications to offset the side effects of when other, more holistic interventions can effectively address the same symptoms, whilst avoiding the unwanted side effects that so often come with pharmaceutical interventions.

The Strength Continuum is a traditional strength and conditioning philosophy upon which different kinds of strength activities are classified. The Strength Continuum was developed as strength training was compared to the force-velocity curve and it was found that different forms of strength training needed their own categorizations as they fell into different areas of the force-velocity curve. The development of the Strength Continuum led to specific training for maximum expression of the different Strength Continuum categories. At first, it was believed that that only specific sports could manifest these expressions because of the individual nature of each category.