Functional Training

Take your performance to the next level with Functional Training. Author Juan Carlos Santana brings you his revolutionary approach to training and conditioning methods sure to improve your function in any sport or activity. Functional Training covers the recent breakthroughs, the most exercises, and proven programs that you can follow or incorporate into your existing training plan.

Offering strength, endurance, power, and sport-specific exercises and programming, Functional Training is a comprehensive resource for every athlete, coach, and athletic trainer. Covering the concepts, exercises, progressions, and sequencing on which a sound functional training program is based, it addresses the needs of more than 11 sports and features 135 exercises, including body weight, bands and pulleys, dumbbells and kettlebells, medicine balls, and stability balls.

Functional Training features a three-tier approach for integrating functional movements into an existing strength program. Through assessment and analysis, you’ll identify the movements and muscles involved in your sport, then select the best exercises and programs based on desired results and performance goals. In addition to quick exercise sequences and personalized programming to address the big four sport skills, more comprehensive programs can be developed to address your athletic and performance needs and goals.

No matter what your sport, Functional Training will help you achieve optimal results.

Juan Carlos Santana, MEd, CSCS, is the founder and director of the Institute of Human Performance (IHP) in Boca Raton, Florida. IHP has been recognized as one of the top training facilities in the world and the best core-training facility in the United States.

Santana has been part of the strength and conditioning programs for several Florida Atlantic University sports teams over the last two decades. He is responsible for the strength and conditioning programs for men’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, track and field, women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s swimming.

A member and certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), Santana is also a member and certified health fitness instructor with the ACSM. In addition, he is a certified senior coach and club coach course instructor with the U.S. weightlifting team and a level I coach with USA Track and Field.

Santana currently is on the NSCA Board of Directors and is a sport-specific conditioning editor for the NSCA Journal. His professional responsibilities have included serving as NSCA vice president, chairman of the NSCA Coaches Conference, a member of the NSCA Conference Committee, and the NSCA Florida state director. As a college professor, he has taught sports training systems and strength training at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). An FAU graduate with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in exercise science, Santana is involved in several ongoing research studies with numerous universities and is working on his PhD in exercise physiology.

Founded in 2001, IHP provides an unparalleled training environment for elite athletes, including Olympic athletes in a variety of sports; world-class tennis champions; NFL, NHL, and MLB players; world champion Brazilian jujitsu and mixed martial arts fighters; numerous NCAA Division I teams; and hundreds of nationally ranked teen hopefuls from a cross-section of sport disciplines.

"Juan Carlos “JC” Santana is the preeminent personal trainer, period! Functional Training will provide you with key insights into the science and application of exercise training."

Jose Antonio, PhD-- CEO of ISSN 

“With Juan Carlos “JC” Santana’s training methods and guidance, I was able to fight at the highest level of mixed martial arts in the UFC and Pride Fighting Championships and reached the pinnacle of grappling by winning the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. The workout regimens in Functional Training will also prepare you for any competition.”

Jeff “Snowman” Monson-- Pro MMA Fighter, ADCC Submission Wrestling World Champion

"If you want to reach your potential as an athlete there is no one I would trust more than Juan Carlos “JC” Santana!

Mike Flynn-- 11 year NFL veteran, Superbowl XXXV Champion

“If you are looking for information to truly unlock your potential and improve your performance, look no further than Functional Training”. 

Jeff Nichols CSCS-- Exercise Physiologist, Virginia High Performance LLC, Former Navy SEAL

“Juan Carlos “JC” Santana is one of the true pioneers of Functional Training.  His creative exercises and programs have helped shape the way that functional training is being used today.”

 Chris Poirier-- General Manager Perform Better

“Juan Carlos “JC” Santana is the premier trainer in America and Functional Training is groundbreaking work in the area of function and strength.  There is simply no better resource on the planet.”

Lee E. Brown, EdD, CSCS*D, FNSCA, FACSM-- Professor, Strength and Conditioning, Director, Center for Sport Performance California State University, Fullerton, Editor, Training for Speed, Agility, and Quickness

“Juan Carlos ‘JC’ Santana is a fitness leader with a unique understanding of the science and practice of functional training. He creates superior results for duffers and high-performance athletes alike and his book Functional Training will show you how to make the most of your training.”

Stuart McGill, PhD-- Professor, University of Waterloo at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

"For over 30 years Juan Carlos ‘JC’ Santana has been raising the bar in the fitness industry.  With Functional Training you will tap into the cutting-edge methods which have made him one of the world's leading authorities on functional training."

Jeff Chandler, EdD, CSCS*D, NSCA-CPT*D, FNSCA, FACSM-- Professor, Jacksonville State University, Editor in Chief, Strength and Conditioning Journal

“Juan Carlos ‘JC’ Santana develops innovative ideas and exercise programming with a training philosophy grounded in basic principles which generates positive results for his clients/athletes. In the past, I have called upon JC for insight into different training methodologies and he has delivered. Gain those same insights when reading Functional Training.”

Chip Morton-- Strength & Conditioning Coach, Cincinnati, Ohio