Form follows function, what does it really mean?

"Form follows function" What does it really mean?

At face value, this tells us to focus on the movement, and not on the muscles involved;

Yet, I find it a little bit confusing because of so much emphasis in gymnastics on perfecting form, body shapes, etc...

What does it mean to you?

The body follows the demands you place on it. So when people ask "how do I look like a gymnast/Olympic lifter/bodybuilder you apply the same kind of stimulus and the form of the body will adapt to match it.

Elliot Hulse said that when you try to squat, you should imagine yourself taking a dump in the woods... lol

Thats what it means to me

to me, function IS form. There may be more than one way to perform a movement, but there are superior ways to perform a move thanks to the way our body is set up. (this also means correct form for you may not be the correct form for me, but it will still be very close). When your body is functioning most efficiently in a movement, you are using the correct form.

Well, to me, it used to mean that the shape of my body is determined by what is demanded of it. Like, if I do lots of curls, I'll have big biceps ( to put it simply ).

Now when I read it though, I could interpret it as: the way my body moves, is determined by how well my body CAN move. For example, I won't be able to touch my toes, standing, if my flexibility is piss poor.

I think in this particular statement by Coach Sommer he was referring to aesthetics, as in if you have good function and can do all the advanced gymnastics movements, you will look muscular and well toned, so rather than focusing on how you look, you should focus on how you perform, and the looks will come by default.

Craig said:

I think in this particular statement by Coach Sommer he was referring to aesthetics, as in if you have good function and can do all the advanced gymnastics movements, you will look muscular and well toned, so rather than focusing on how you look, you should focus on how you perform, and the looks will come by default.

Ditto. That's how I understood it.

Craig nailed it.

It's originally comes from the design world, when more minimal designs began to appear. The idea was to design for the function the item was meant to perform and the result would be a naturally beautiful form.

GST follows the same idea, design your exercise for what you intend to perform and the result will be a beautiful form.

More over, the basic shapes of gymnastics, hollow, arch, straight, all are important because, having those shapes and being able to control them is what allows gymnastic movement to be possible.