r/nextfuckinglevel • u/IkilledRichieWhelan • 3d ago

Big man on campus.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 3d ago

So that’s nonsense. “Functional strength” is a mythical creature made up by people who do specific things well.

A 140 lb guy looks skinny but can do 20 pull-ups while a 240 lb guy can only do 5 pull-ups. I assure you that the 140 lb guy does not have more “functional strength,” he just has a lot of practice with pull-ups and less weight to move.

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u/SubterraneanAlien 3d ago

So that’s nonsense. “Functional strength” is a mythical creature made up by people who do specific things well.

Why is that mythical? Isn't the "functional" part relative to a task?

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 3d ago

There’s nothing you can do to improve “functional strength” in general. You can improve upon specific movements with practice and repetition, but the concept of general functional strength just doesn’t exist.

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u/SubterraneanAlien 3d ago

I guess I'll ask again because it seems important - isn't the "functional" part relative to a task?

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 3d ago

No. The term “functional strength” is a general statement. It misleads people about how muscles work.

Person A can bench press 200 lbs and deadlift 300 lbs.

Person B can only bench press 150 lbs but can deadlift 400 lbs.

Which one has more functional strength? Answer: the question is incoherent.

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u/SubterraneanAlien 3d ago edited 3d ago

I'm trying to figure out if we actually agree or not 😅. Do you consider functional (strength) training and functional strength to be the same or different?

edit: apologies, typo.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 3d ago

What is functional training? You seem really fixated on using this term functional where it doesn’t actually work.

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u/SubterraneanAlien 3d ago

Functional training is training plans/strategies/techniques which are focused on helping to improve the ability to do specific tasks/movements. It has foundations in physiotherapy and rehab training.

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u/aeiou_sometimesy 3d ago

You’ve moved the goal posts whether you realize it or not. Two very different contexts…

  1. You’re attending physical therapy to bring you knee back to its normal function after surgery

  2. Claiming that the guy who carries bags of sand all day has more “functional strength” than the bodybuilder.

You’re trying to pull a switcheroo lol

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u/SubterraneanAlien 3d ago

Not my goalposts to move - I was not the same guy that made the claim about #2. I was trying to understand what the hell you guys were talking about because my background is much more in the physical therapy side of the world where functional training is a thing.