Harder, BETTER, Faster, Stronger

For a guy who doesn't like talking to reporters, Matt Herring, strength-and-conditioning coordinator for the University of Florida Men's basketball team, had a lot to say Thursday about functional training, his preferred method of getting the Gators in shape every season.

"It's not about bigger, faster stronger--it's about better," Herring told our Health and Fitness Writing class, as he explained how each exercise he puts the players through during training serves a specific purpose, and all of them combine to make the players better as a whole. (An example of a non-functional exercise, Herring said, would be bicep curls, which pretty much just serve the function of making biceps bigger.)

As to why the program adopted this form of training in the first place, Herring said "the facility has shaped our philosophy." With little room to work with in the "country club," the players' name for their not-quite-up-to-football-standard training facility (they have 2,000 sq. ft. while the football team has 20,000), the staff had to come up with the most efficient way to use the space. That meant not cramming it with machines, but instead incorporating drills that can be altered to target certain inconsistencies and weaknesses as needed into the team's training sessions.

This article, written by Professor Spiker himself, details how Herring and his staff took the boys to their second National Championship two years ago. It certainly makes sense not to waste time on exercises that don't result in performance enhancement, but Herring wasn't exactly willing to stamp his name on the idea (he actually got the idea of functional training from a man named Gary Gray ) and call it the next big thing in conditioning. While it's true the Gators took home two titles since Herring got here five years ago, it's also true that they missed out altogether on two NCAA tournaments. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens this season.