Functional or Foolish?

 
by Tony Gentilcore

If I never see a BOSU ball again or any other device used for unstable surface training, I would die a happy man. Unless you're training to be part of the circus, I really feel that these foo-foo pieces of equipment have no place in a healthy individual's training program.

I hear a lot of personal trainers tout that using unstable surfaces is great for "functional training." The phrase functional training has gotten a bit skewed, and I think that people have forgotten what the true definition is in the first place. Functional training entails anything that improves a real life quality or function.

Examples include: squatting down to pick something up off the floor, walking up a flight of stairs, or drop kicking dumb personal trainers.

Functional training should entail exercises and movements that help to improve everyday life events. Standing with one leg on a BOSU ball while doing arm curls with one arm and holding a body-blade in the other does not constitute as "functional." Conversely, it does constitute being a complete waste of time.

Trust me, your time can be better spent sticking to the basics if you want to lose fat or get stronger in the gym: squats, deadlifts, various lunges, bench presses, chin-ups, rows, etc. These are the staples. If someone can't even do a regular squat with correct form on a stable surface (the floor), why would I want to put him or her on an unstable surface? It doesn't make sense. In the end, all they'll be doing is promoting a faulty motor pattern, which could possibly predispose them to injury down the road.

By training on an unstable surface you're shooting yourself in the foot in a few ways.

1. You'll burn fewer calories. You won't be able to use nearly as much weight on an unstable surface as you would on a stable surface performing the same exercise. Burning calories (and hence, fat) is all about progressive resistance/overload (stressing the body). BOSU balls and the like are inferior in this regard.

2. You will actually make yourself weaker. Gaining strength is all about force production (i.e. being able to transfer force from the ground up). By training on an unstable surface, you're promoting "leaks" and really limiting the amount of force you can generate in any given exercise. For athletes, this is crucial.

Additionally, unstable surface training undermines all three phases of the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC), especially the amortization phase. Using devices such as BOSU balls actually delays the amortization phase. From an athletic standpoint, one seeks to minimize this phase as much as possible to prevent loss of a significant amount of the energy accumulated and stored as a result of the preloading (eccentric) phase.

3. Core strength? Please don't be that person who claims that unstable surface training is great for training the core. I can have someone do the same movement on a stable surface and activate the "core" just as much.

4. Safety. On more than one occasion I've seen people fall and injure themselves while performing exercises on an unstable surface. For example, squatting on a SWISS ball. Every time I see someone attempt this, I cringe. Free-weight exercises have been proven safe when performed on stable surfaces, but there isn't much data out there which showcases the efficacy of unstable surface training in regards to safety.

In the end, training on unstable surfaces isn't worth it. Again, if you're training for the circus they're great! However, I feel that people would be much better served steering clear of them in the long run.