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When training intensely, there is a fine line between challenging yourself with heavier weights and maintaining the proper technique through your lifts. I for one, recognize the importance of constantly challenging yourself with heavy weight in order to increase strength and muscle mass, but here is a quick explanation as to why technique needs to override max weight.
We all know about the dangers of injury when working out improperly so I won't go there today. I want to address the issue of functional training. A lot of people associate this term with simulating movements from your sport in the gym via bosu balls and cable machines. This is not functional training. Functional training merely refers to the carryover of your strength work into athletic performance. This means we are focusing on development of force in the appropriate direction, by the appropriate muscles, in the appropriate sequence.
That is a very important definition. Sometimes in order to lift a maximum weight, we turn on some compensatory patterns in order to get the weight off the floor. So while you get the weight from point A to point B with a certain amount of force, you may not have recruited the appropriate muscles, and especially in the appropriate order. When we are looking at the way you move and perform in sport, we are attempting to put your body in position to be the most efficient and effective it can be. As soon as you alter some of these motor patterns in an incorrect way by altering the technique and recruitment of muscle in certain lifts, you change the way you move and react in space.
Remember, strength at the cost of technique is never OK! Lift strong, but lift right. It's About Getting Better!!