Mike Boyle’s New Functional Training for Sports vs Advances
If You Have Advances in Functional Training, Do You Need Mike Boyle’s New Functional Training for Sports?
So how does Mike Boyle’s New Functional Training for Sports, 2nd Edition, published in June by Human Kinetics, compare with his Advances in Functional Training, published earlier by OTP?
Let’s find out.
Mike Boyle’s New Functional Training for Sports, 2nd Edition is 245 pages (8×11 format), 11 chapters, and includes 72 exercise demonstration video clips available at humankinetics.com after signing with a passcode, or via Kindle on most devices. (Mike doesn’t appear in the video clips.)
The basic philosophy of both books is similar. Today and in prior years, Mike Boyle has said the same thing: “Functional training should be done without machines, should be done standing and should be multi-joint, but at the same time, attention should be paid to development of the key stabilizer groups in the hips, core and posterior shoulder.”
Exercise Descriptions
There are many exercises suggestions and descriptions in New Functional Training for Sports, including full-color photos. In fact, the book is probably 75% exercises—there are many more than found in Advances, although some are found in both books.
Actually, the underlying purpose seems to be the exercises. These are Mike’s favorite exercises for improving speed, strength and power for performance, as well as reducing injury risk. Here he’s telling the reader how to use these favorites to achieve specific goals in programming.
In comparing the two books, New Functional Training for Sports, 2nd Edition, takes up where Advances in Functional Training leaves off in terms of exercise description. While in Advances the exercise descriptions were limited, in New Functional Training, the descriptions are the meat of the book, and exercise philosophy is more like the bread, whereas in Advances, that analogy doesn’t fit as well—the exercise descriptions took a secondary role.
You’ll find many of the same programming ideas in both books, but considering that six years have passed since Advances was published, there have been subtle changes in the way Mike programs his athletes and clients. Most of the major shifts happened in the years between the original Functional Training for Sports (2003) and Advances (2010), but you’ll still find minor differences between his 2010 work and this new material in 2016.
Bottom line
What might be most valuable to many readers are the single-paragraph explanations—even one-liners—that will clarify something you almost understood before, and truly understand after.
Bottom line: If you liked and used Advances, you’ll like and use New Functional Training for Sports.
Mike Boyle’s New Functional Training for Sports Contents
Foreword
Preface
Making Your Training More Functional
Analyzing the Demands of Your Sport
Assessing Your Functional Strength
Designing Your Program
Foam Rolling, Stretching and Dynamic Warm-Up
Lower-Body Training
Core Training
Upper-Body Training
Plyometric Training
Olympic Lifting
Performance Training Programs
References
Index