Functional Strength Training For Bowlers

Maybe you’ve been wanting to get back in shape and have a healthier lifestyle. Or, maybe you’ve read the benefits that training can have for a bowler and want to start up a regimen. Whether it’s related to performance, health, or improving your physique for more self confidence, the question of what to do to help you get started remains the same.

As a fitness professional, I often get asked what type of training I recommend and what kind of training I do personally. It seems that the fitness industry has done a good job at making the whole fitness thing rather confusing with all the different options people have to choose from. There are so many different programs out there, many of which are modalities of training that have been around for years but people keep giving them new clever names to entice the novices.

When I am asked what kind of exercise I would recommend, my answer is always functional strength training. Unfortunately, functional strength training is a vague term that is used by many in the fitness industry and a majority of general fitness clientele have no idea what it actually means. In this article, I’ll explain what functional strength training is and provide some example exercises that are beneficial to bowlers.

Functional strength training defined

Our bodies are very complex and have the ability to perform a wide range of movement patterns. These movement patterns are broken down and categorized into “planes of movement.” Too often we have tendencies from our daily living, hobbies, sports, or means of physical activity to use one or more movement patterns more than the others, resulting in deficiencies or imbalances. ...