This course is designed for the strength & conditioning specialist who wishes to take his instructional skills to the next level, thereby progressing his clients beyond traditional gym exercises. The typical gym environment provides equipment which either allows one to isolate individual muscle groups for hypertrophy or when working multiple joints, to do so symmetrically and through only a single plane of motion. Although this type of training has advantages for initial conditioning, it does not truly prepare the body for how it must perform in ‘activities of daily living’ or ‘athletic competition’.

Despite the fact that our body works as a unit, we tend to train it through the isolation of body parts. This shortcoming combined with the fact that gym equipment normally does not allow us to operate in a ground-based, asymmetrical, multi-planar, real-life environment means that we fail to train in a manner that facilitates human movement.  Functional training, on the other hand, is founded upon the principle of working the whole body in an integrated fashion with movements occurring in everyday activities.  This ‘functional’ approach coupled with the fact that sessions are more “FUN”, due to the variety of equipment and uniqueness of movements, has accounted for the popularity of this type of training.

Sixty hours of academic instruction, to include thirty hours of practical training, at the Institute of Human Performance in Boca Raton, enables students to evaluate human movement and then progressively prepare clients for whole body activities whether they are conducted in the home or on the playing field. This type of training conditions the body to relate to real life and to function at an optimal level.

Upon successful course completion, students are awarded a certificate as a ‘Functional Training Specialist’. This course will help prepare students for the NSCA-CPT and CSCS certification exams. Prerequisites for course attendance are completion of the Fitness Testing and Strength & Conditioning courses or a degree in exercise science from an accredited university.