The Performance Pyramid tells us that the foundation of sports performance is “functional movement”, which is the ability to exhibit adequate stability and control through a given movement task. An example of this is a basic unloaded overhead squat. It tells us that we will be able to move to the next level of difficulty without any significant impediment. It requires sufficient joint mobility, tissue extensibility and stability and motor control. This is our movement potential. This is where a lot of athletes can be helped by us.

The next level is functional performance or fundamental capacity. If we do not have adequate functional movement, we will be limited in our ability to build performance or capacity. This is our athletes strength and conditioning training where they develop speed, endurance, capacity.

If we do not have adequate functional capacity, our ability to train and improve our functional or sport specific skill will be limited. Consider the tennis player with “perfect” functional movement with limited aerobic or fundamental capacity. They simply will not be able to train long enough to develop the skills to become good.