I'm looking for a program to develop overall functional strength. I'm not too concerned about looks and ideally want to minimise mass growth but gain strength at the same time.

I have tried searching but it seems the internet is only concerned with bodybuilding or selling products to overweight housewives.

I'm mostly concerned with getting the balance right. Overdeveloped chest with a weak back can lead to injuries or so i beleive, and the same for quads and hams, bi's and tri's etc.

Anyone had any luck in the past researching such a program?

http://www.fitnessdietcenter.com/navy-seals/

Only try to do the whole thing if you are VERY motivated.

If you want to add weight lifting, do squats, deadlift, and benchpress. Start off with light weights so you don't hurt yourself.

rosstraining.com

See if you can get your hands on a copy of "Dinosaur Training". ALL about functional strength and awesome all around.

I'm on a laptop and don't know how to do the "addition" symbol, so:

"Plus one".

I suggest his book "Infinite Intensity".

Yeah, Ross's stuff is great, but bear in mind if you haven't trained much, it isn't a great idea to jump into some of the really intense stuff. Also remember a lot of it is strength endurance work based around training for MMA or boxing, if you don't do MMA or boxing, there is no need to train like a competitor in these sports.

If you want functional fitness:

In my opinion, a combination of 1.5 - 5 mile runs, along with sprinting, 20m shuttle sprints, fartlek training, bodyweight exercises such as pushups, pullups, chinups, dips, handstand pushups and situps (go easy with them though) will get you "functionally" fit.

With that kind of training you'll be able to blow any kind of fitness test out of the water after 6 months.

The only thing that training lacks is some max strength training, so if you want to throw in some, go ahead, deadlifts, squats, various forms of pressing and rowing along with some isolation movements will be great.

Remember to stretch as well, and do it properly.

You should look into sandbag training. I'm going to try it with my brother this summer. I would think that would give you loads of functional strength and muscle endurance.

I agree with this guy, if you want pure, functional strength to a degree which can't be matched, odd object lifting and sandbag type training is fucking amazing.

I mean, depending on the size of the bags, you can train for endurance, max strength or explosive power, not to mention the countless exercises you can do with them. I used them for a while and just used to grab a couple of them in a farmers walk type hold and just run around a football pitch with them, gave me some awesome grip strength.

I love this type of training over being in the gym, I prefer to be outdoors, combining running, lifting, throwing, grabbing, twisting and climbing into a workout.

Oh, napoleaon_complex, have you thought about atlas stones at all? You can make them pretty cheap and get some heavy ass stones, great for grip strength and back muscles, superb training tool, I'll provide a link if you're interested in making your own atlas stones.

Sandbag Construction Kit (PDF) - http://www.rosstraining.com/sandbagconstructionkit.pdf

Link above shows Ross Enamaits sandbag construction guide and tips to make sandbag training is as good as it can get.

I would definitely be interested in a atlas stone guide.

My goal for the sandbags is basically improving muscle endurance and increasing explosive strength(I plan on doing a lot of throwing and quick lifting with them).

Grip strength is another reason why I'm going to try it out.

I also plan on continuing to lift regularly. I'll probably do the sandbag training 2-3 times per week. I'll be working full time, and my brother will have football, so I think maybe wednesdays and saturdays for sandbags.

Should be lots of fun.

Sounds a lot of fun and you should build some fucking good strength up. There's loads of routines around for the sandbags, one thing I liked to do was sprint to the sandbag, clean it onto shoulders run back to start, run back then throw the bag, sprint back to the start, sprint back repeat, the distance keeps increasing, it really starts to kill you, brilliant leg workout and upper body as well.

Building an Atlas stone link - http://www.tc.umn.edu/~keen0018/makeastone.htm