Today the buzz word in the gym is functional training. It has many meanings to many practitioners in the health and fitness industry. My understanding and implementation of functional training has come from a variety of sources including my own training and teaching in martial arts and numerous sports, combined with studying many of the leading experts in the field including Gary Gray (known as the father of function), Paul Chek (who is also known as the man who brought those big Swiss/stability balls to our gyms) and the National Academy of Sports Medicine to name but a few. Here is a definition of functional training from the National Academy of Sports Medicine: “All functional movement patterns involve deceleration, stabilisation and acceleration, which occur at every joint in the kinetic chain and in all three planes of motion.” (1)

This article is the second in a series devoted specifically to speed training. We are not all created the same! How true this is. So when it comes to determining your speed potential there are several key factors that can either assist or inhibit your ability to become faster. The key point here is that every athlete can become faster, how fast is just often determined by factors out of our control. This article outlines these factors and provides you with some background in understanding an athlete's speed potential.

This article is the first in a series devoted specifically to speed training. Speed is one of the most studied, researched and written about fitness components as it can determine the success of an athlete when it comes to their chosen sport. Speed is often simply defined as getting from point A to point B in the fastest time. It is a little more advanced and complex than that simple definition due to the various factors associated with being fast. For example; how quick and athlete can take off, change direction and sprint over varying distances while performing a sports specific skill all determine how fast that athlete is.