Do any of you incorporate functional based workouts into your routine?

[taz]

I have for many years been adding functional workouts into my regular bodybuilding style training. Not necessarily crossfit. But explosive type training and speed training. Things that make me work beyond my normal capacity and challenge my cardio. Just wondering if you guys do this as well and what type you do?

For example, I will do compound workouts where my rest periods are very low and my work rate stays high. Here is an example of one of those workouts but they tend to vary quite a bit.
I would do this with a goal of finishing as quickly as possible so my rest windows are minimal
10 calorie row
10 dumbell overhead walking lunges
20 calorie row
20 turkish get-ups total
30 calorie row
30 popping push ups
.20 mile walk/jog
20 kettlebell swings
.10 mile walk/jog
10 broad jump burpees

I have found that my tendons are stronger since I am not beating them up as bad and my body reacts well to the challenges. Plus it helps change up the workouts so I get excited for the challenge.

 

[qbkilla]

I recently started doing this and I like it, I just wanted to start something new, tired of the same old training routines. At my age and the fact that I don't bulk, DC training and getting stronger, high volume, whatever routine won't make any dramatic improvements to my physique, tried everything.

I wanted to focus on calisthenics but also try and bring up my delts, so structured a routine to do calisthenics and then high volume/frequency for delts.

Delts
Bodyweight exercises + arms
Delts
Bodyweight + arms
Delts

Take 6th day off and repeat.

Workout 1
4x Dips/Chins Super settled, low rest time
3 sets for bis, 3 for tris supersetted
Core work

Workout 2
4 sets for side delts, superseded for 4 for rear
3 sets for front delts, 3 sets for traps
Core work

Cardio 3x per Week. Maybe its the chins/dips superset but for the first time in a long time im sore, even though the overall volume isn't high yet. And no other routine has really made me sore, even at the end of a loading phase when I was over trained and felt weak and drained, was never sore. Probably just because im doing functional movements.

 

[275bills]

I recently started doing this and I like it, I just wanted to start something new, tired of the same old training routines. At my age and the fact that I don't bulk, DC training and getting stronger, high volume, whatever routine won't make any dramatic improvements to my physique, tried everything.

I wanted to focus on calisthenics but also try and bring up my delts, so structured a routine to do calisthenics and then high volume/frequency for delts.

Delts
Bodyweight exercises + arms
Delts
Bodyweight + arms
Delts

Take 6th day off and repeat.

Workout 1
4x Dips/Chins Super settled, low rest time
3 sets for bis, 3 for tris supersetted
Core work

Workout 2
4 sets for side delts, superseded for 4 for rear
3 sets for front delts, 3 sets for traps
Core work

Cardio 3x per Week. Maybe its the chins/dips superset but for the first time in a long time im sore, even though the overall volume isn't high yet. And no other routine has really made me sore, even at the end of a loading phase when I was over trained and felt weak and drained, was never sore. Probably just because im doing functional movements.

This routine well severely over train your delts

 

[qbkilla]

This routine well severely over train your delts

I'm trying to jack up the weekly volume for delts. It works out to about 14 sets per week for side and rear, 11 for front and traps. My last routine I worked my way up to 16 sets per week for side delts, reps and weight were still increasing.

All sets are to failure but some exercises (plate front raises, y cable raises for side, facepulls for rear) are lighter weight higher reps.

Keeping chest, back, and arm volume low so overall volume doesn't get crazy.

 

[taz]

I am on the fence with the over-training concepts. I mean I get the whole science of it. But I feel like there is science, then there is reality for some people. And while i am not a big fan of crossfit, much of their work, every day, involves lower back, core stablization, and shoulders. And having known well over 100 crossfitters I can attest that very few end up with serious shoulder issues. Unless they train stupid in which case they have severe problems.

That being said, I absolutely agree that daily hits to the same muscle can lead to serious injury including potentially rhabdo.

To that end though, when I stopped training my legs and stopped trying to train my calves and ONLY jumped rope and kicked heavy bags (when I was training in Muay Thai full time), my legs actually got their biggest and strongest and my calves blew up. Everywhere I went people asked me what I did for my calves. But that was all due to daily work with jump rope. I was jumping rope between 15-30 minutes every single day. That really grew my calves. And the bounce and burst effect is what I am guessing got my legs so muscular. Especially the top portion of the quad. Outside of bodyweight warm-up squats all I would do would be kicking pads and heavy bags hundreds of times every day.

 

[rotinaj]

My choice of employment has forced me to do functional workouts 1 to 3 times a week for the last few years….
But “functional“ is subjective.
Most people think circuit training of some variety is functional..
Yet 99% of the time those same people will never be in a situation that requires them to perform with those exercises.
For example, my job requires I have a strong grip so regularly doing forearm work or grippers is “functional” for me but probably not for the next guy who spends eight hours a day sitting at a desk.

 

[Flex500]

I have started to do way more GPP the last two years. Sled drags specifically; pull forward, backward, pulling it like a row with no eccentric. A while back we even started doing "challenge saturday" where we walk the 1 mile around my neighborhood with a weight vest, holding dumbbells, etc. It's become a pretty fun thing. As much as I hate the gimmicky folks like liver king we even tried something similar to thing he does for our "challenge saturday"...20 pound ankle weights, 60lb vest, 70 pounds of chains, carrying 100 pounds on my hex bar. Took an hour.

My week looks like this:

I do 20 minutes on the bike pretty decent paced (bot not HIIT) every morning
3-4 strength training workouts that are pretty typical
3-4 rounds of some sort of GPP work including the "challenge saturday" which is usually a 35-60 minute event.

I have started to mix into my strength training some more challenging workouts as well from a cardio perspective. They are always quite hard but as an example this saturday we did did sort of an old school charles poloquin (RIP) type of training....

leg curl
2 minute rest
10 reps of bb back squat
2 minute rest
leg curl
2 minute rest
10 reps of BB back squat

That continues for 10 sets of 10 of each then we do the mile walk 30 minutes later. And yes, every single nagging injury, joint pain, etc. is completely gone and I did deadlift 405 x 12 and 315 x 20 so my peak strength may be lower but still strong-ish

 

[Performance Based]

My training is purely calinesthetic or loaded explosive movement along non traditional planes. I look better than I did (in my opinion) than when I was bodybuilding. If this is a tangent you want to go into I highly suggest picking up some books by Ross Erstling. Amazing athlete - did a marathon pulling a car / swam around the entirety of the mainland UK / other ridiculous feats and looks better than 99% of bodybuilders (more size/symmetry/and leaner).

For whatever reasons bodybuilding over the recent years is devoid of athleticism it seems. Running/rowing/functional movements are not going to hinder development unless you are a top tier competitor.

 

[qbkilla]

My training is purely calinesthetic or loaded explosive movement along non traditional planes. I look better than I did (in my opinion) than when I was bodybuilding. If this is a tangent you want to go into I highly suggest picking up some books by Ross Erstling. Amazing athlete - did a marathon pulling a car / swam around the entirety of the mainland UK / other ridiculous feats and looks better than 99% of bodybuilders (more size/symmetry/and leaner).

For whatever reasons bodybuilding over the recent years is devoid of athleticism it seems. Running/rowing/functional movements are not going to hinder development unless you are a top tier competitor.

I believe it. People who are functionally strong just have a better look than many bodybuilders. Being athletic and being able to move without being stiff is important.

Who is stronger a 170 guy who benches 240 and can do 20 pullups? Or a 240lb guy who benches 355 and can do 3 pullups?

 

[BigNJ]

The only functional training I do religiously and daily is reaching for my bag of Cheetos while watching TV on the couch.

I gotta admit, my left forearm is getting bigger. Probably from high rep arm reaches into the Cheetos bag.

 

[taz]

My choice of employment has forced me to do functional workouts 1 to 3 times a week for the last few years….
But “functional“ is subjective.
Most people think circuit training of some variety is functional..
Yet 99% of the time those same people will never be in a situation that requires them to perform with those exercises.
For example, my job requires I have a strong grip so regularly doing forearm work or grippers is “functional” for me but probably not for the next guy who spends eight hours a day sitting at a desk.

this is very poignant. I couldn't agree more and should have clarified my statement. FUNCTIONAL is relative to the FUNCTIONS in which one is required to perform on a regular or semi-regular basis. Such a great point to make. What so few people realize is that if they train according to their lifestyle, they will have a stronger lifestyle, easier lifestyle, and more comfortable lifestyle.

 

[taz]

My training is purely calinesthetic or loaded explosive movement along non traditional planes. I look better than I did (in my opinion) than when I was bodybuilding. If this is a tangent you want to go into I highly suggest picking up some books by Ross Erstling. Amazing athlete - did a marathon pulling a car / swam around the entirety of the mainland UK / other ridiculous feats and looks better than 99% of bodybuilders (more size/symmetry/and leaner).

For whatever reasons bodybuilding over the recent years is devoid of athleticism it seems. Running/rowing/functional movements are not going to hinder development unless you are a top tier competitor.

I spent 5 years doing nothing but explosive style and callisthenic style workouts without ever lifting anything over 100lbs. I looked the best of my life and was in the best overall health of my life. And this was when I was late 30's and early 40's! I started bodybuilding at 18.
I was able to walk around and cut weight easily back then. I played tournaments in high level tennis while also competing in jiu jitsu tournaments and training/teaching Muay Thai kickboxing. I was in true athletic condition. I felt wonderful.
But then the gym closed and I had no more access to that type of equipment and the traditional gyms do not allow those types of workouts.
I miss the heavy truck tires, sledgehammers, water-bars, pulley systems, sandbags, slamballs, sleds, 6 foot scaling wall, etc.