Functional Technique

Use of proper technique in strength and conditioning programs is imperative to the safety and progress of every athlete. When this becomes the entire focus of the strength coach I feel the program is at risk. The development of Functional technique should be the goal with the focus on strenght devlopment. olympic lifters sometimes spend their entire carreers trying to develop and perfect their technique.there are also olympic medalists that have won with less than perfect technique but brute strength acoompanied by functional technique. David Rigert, Mario Martinez, Ken Patera, and Mighty Paul Anderson to name a few. Functional technique in a lift like the power clean can be taught in 1/2 an hour the power snatch maybe alittle longer to any reasonably agile athlete.Perfect technique NO , Functional YES. Olympic lifts are just exercises in your program not competitive lifts. Safety is always a priority,but so is getting stronger. A great story that can be directly related to this topic is about a visit from world record holder Nicu Vlad and his visit to USA Olympic Training Center. Upon his observation of training facilities and some of the athletes training, he was asked what he thought . He stated that when he first set the world snatch record he trained in a damp training hall where the temperature rarely made it to 50 degrees in the winter, the bar he used was even bent. The athletes he observed had fantastic equipment, ideal conditions, and their technique was great. ,STRONG-- TOO MUCH TECHNIQUE. I have seen some athletes who have hoisted some pretty nice weight be criticized for reling on strength and not maximizing technique.So if you train an athlete and feel his technique puts him in danger by all means either remove the exercise from the program or shore up his functional technique. If your athlete demonstrates an adequate Functional technique and you are achieving your training goals with your athletes(DON"T BE A TECHNIQUE SNOB --GET STRONG!)




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