Tip of the Week: You may have heard a fitness term floating around quite a bit over the last few years, one that for all its ubiquity is seldom explained. The term is "functional training."

So, just what is functional training? Glad you asked.

Since the onset of organized bodybuilding in the early part of the last century, a system of exercising began to evolve — one that was focused primarily on the goal of developing muscular size, strength and definition. This kind of training, dubbed "progressive resistance," involves performing simple one- or two-joint movement exercises, each focusing on a muscle group or two.

Of course, few of our daily movements are limited to such structure, and certainly athletics requires coordinated movement of many muscle groups.

Out of this understanding came a form of training — functional training — that is based not on typical progressive resistance exercises but more dynamic ones that bring a range of muscles into play, much in the way athletics does.

I'm a big advocate of progressive resistance training for a host of reasons — it builds strength, increases bone mass, improves circulation and strengthen the heart, to name a few. But functional training has the benefits of giving you added agility and flexibility. Ideally, there's a place for both progressive resistance and functional training in your workout.

Q: How do you feel about taking vitamins and the like? A friend of mine says that so long as you eat a balanced diet, you shouldn't need to add vitamins to it.

A: I, myself, happen to be a proponent of supplements, as you can imagine, having started many lines of nutritional products over the years. That being said, I don't think your friend is completely off base in her assertion.

The term "vitamin" was dubbed by the Polish chemist Casimir Funk in 1911, upon discovering that a compound in the hulls of rice called "amine" helped prevent the contraction of beriberi, which was more often contracted by those who ate processed rice. So vital did he find this compound that he called it a "vital amine," or vitamine.

Over time, more and more vitamins, minerals and other supplements were created to treat nutritional deficiencies, many of which are due to the extreme amount of processing our foods undergo before they reach our dinner table.

So your friend is correct in saying that you don't need supplements, IF your diet is made up primarily if not wholly of unprocessed foods. For some people, eating raw, organic and natural foods is a lifestyle decision — but, unfortunately, it's not an easy one to adhere to these days. For the rest of us, supplements can be a great way of ensuring that we don't end up with a nutritional deficiency.

I also feel that supplements are vital for any person who exercises regularly, as exercise depletes the body of its resources more quickly than does the lifestyle of a sedentary person.

Q: How do you feel about energy drinks, Joe? There are a ton of them on the market these days, and they seem to be very popular. But I had one the other day, and it nearly shook me out of my shoes. Do you recommend any?

A: I have to imagine anything that nearly shakes you out of your shoes can't be very good for your health.

Yes, I've seen the influx of these so-called "energy drinks" into the marketplace, and I lament the fact that they seem to be simply the latest in a line of quick fixes available to the American public. What energy drinks consist of mostly is sugar and caffeine. Sometimes the active ingredient is a natural substance called guarana, but this is essentially caffeine.

From what I can tell, people drink these concoctions for a host of reasons — from elevating mood to staying awake to boosting workouts. Yet all they're really doing is suddenly accelerating the heart rate. Too much could lead to high blood pressure and even a heart attack.

If you are in need of a boost of energy, I'd suggest you drink some green tea. Green tea does have caffeine (though not as much as a typical energy drink) and is also filled with powerful antioxidants — things that will improve, not detract from, your health. That should always be your underlying goal whenever you're making decisions involving nutrition and exercise.

Joe Weider is the co-founder of the International Federation of BodyBuilders, creator of the Mr. Olympia and Ms. Olympia bodybuilding contests, and publisher of numerous fitness magazines. To find out more about Joe Weider, write to him and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

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