If you’ve been in the fitness game as long as I have, you’ve undoubtedly seen many fads that have come and gone. The times change, so the focus and the specific techniques change with resistance training. I’m not here to argue if kettlebells are more beneficial than dumbbells. I’m much more interested in making sure whatever method of resistance training you choose, you start it from where you should and progress it in the right direction.

What I see daily are exercisers doing resistance training that is not at the appropriate level for them. There are three basic levels that you can perform resistance training exercises: stability, strength, and power. Each has its own purpose and provides a unique benefit. If done out of sequence, however, it can have a disastrous effect.

Stability training is the first phase of resistance training. This should be the foundation from where all your other training is launched. If you are new to exercise this is where you definitely should start. This phase is about developing muscular balance around the joints. Joints and muscles work most effectively when there is a length/strength relationship to them. When certain muscles get longer and/or weaker and other muscles get tighter and/or stronger, it creates a “wobble” to the joint that alters its mechanics. Training in this phase should be about re-establishing that balance and developing muscular endurance for certain muscle groups that are more involved in posture and core function. Even if you have been working out for a long time, this is an important phase to go back to and work through because the very nature of your existing exercise program can be developing muscular imbalances and hindering your results.

The strength training phase is where most people start their exercise programs. Whether your goal is to lose weight, build muscle, or develop strength, there is an expectation with most people that they should grab a weight and start doing some reps. If you haven’t gone through the first stage of training, the strength phase can actually help to build bigger dysfunctions in your body. This phase targets the larger, more dynamic muscles of the body. If you have imbalances, and you strengthen these bigger muscles, you develop strength in this position. If the joint still have “wobble”and the stabilizing muscles are weak, the imbalance is reinforced. Your newly developed strength in a bad position can lead to an overload issue. The joint not moving correctly stresses tissues around that joint. Doing your training enough can bring on common overuse injuries, like impingement syndrome of the shoulder or patella femoral syndrome of the knee.

The last phase of resistance training is for power. The power phase of training is based in time. You do things quickly. Some of us actually start our training here, skipping the first two phases altogether. This would include training that involves jumping, throwing, kicking, and ballistic movements. This training creates high degrees of shear force through the joints that can only be off-set by the working muscles and connective tissue. If you haven’t balanced your joint through stabilization training and strengthened the muscles properly, when you perform these movements, you are literally sending mini earthquakes through your body. You can have overuse injuries develop, but more likely, this is where the muscles or joints just give way to the large forces. A muscle tear or torn cartilage are not uncommon with this training.

As I stated before, all training has its usefulness and can be beneficial. I’m a big proponent that you use a variety of styles and techniques to achieve your desired goals. Just make sure you start your training at the appropriate point and progress it in the proper manner, so to not undo all the benefits you get from your training.

I hope that this gives you some new insights into your resistance training program. I wish you happy and successful training.

There are many reasons for the low success rate, but the most important one is that there is no plan put in place. When a plan is developed and effectively implemented, the success rate goes up significantly. But a plan can be developed anytime and get you going at the most important time … NOW, when you are motivated to change! When you come to Longevity and want to start working out, we sit down and develop a plan that gets you started at the appropriate place and level.

If one of your objections is that the holidays are too busy, then what you are saying to us, is even after New Year’s when you get busy, you’re not going to keep working out. We are always busy! And yes the Holidays do put extra pressure on us, but I can tell you without hesitation that the people who find a way to maintain a schedule during this time of year are the ones who do not let the fitness goals slide any other time of year, no matter how busy they get. If you start during a busy time, you are better at planning to get your workouts in and you start at an amount that you can maintain, then increase as the busy times pass.

Externally imposed deadlines never result in permanent change. People who come to us who have an arbitrary timelines to their weight loss goals, follow a pattern of temporary success followed by dramatic failure. If you’re waiting for that cruise, wedding, or that New Year’s resolution, then you’re more than likely to lose the weight for a short term, but then goal will pass or you will get get bored and the weight will come back … and sometimes even more than before. What it takes to sustain your results is to connect the goal to what is really important to you. This may be health, appearance, or what fitness allows you to do and then develop goals that keep you motivated and on task.

For those that think they will just gain the weight through the holidays and then do something about it … you are starting with an huge assumption … YOU HAVE TO GAIN WEIGHT! If you do start exercising now and give some thought to all those holiday events, meals, and snacks I’ll give you an eye-opening revelation … YOU DON’T HAVE TO GAIN HOLIDAY WEIGHT THIS YEAR!!!

Whether you are looking to start a fitness plan or have been exercising regularly, I urge you to take a look now at how you can develop a plan that utilizes the holidays to focus your fitness or weight loss goals to gain even more success in the coming new year. If you need help, you can checkout our specials that can help you be a Happy New You in the Happy New Year!

For us to move you in the right direction for achieving your goals, we have adopted a word as the framework for how we deliver our exercise sessions. The word is “EDU-train-ment”. When I was discussing this concept with our marketing person, he thought that we had come up with an original concept … until we Googled it – Google search for edutrainment. It became obvious we were not the first to think of it, but is one of the philosophies that does make our service a wee-bit more interesting.

It consists of 3 elements: Education, Training, and Entertainment. Each element is adjusted to the right proportion and to fit you at the appropriate level for that particular exercise session.

Education – This factor is capitalized because it is the foundation for what we do at Longevity Studios. We delivery the necessary information in order for you to understand, not only the how but the why, and allow you to take accountability for your own exercise and lifestyle. We determine what the best style is for your learning and then deliver the information in that style at a level that you will completely understand.

Training – If education represents the why, this is the how. Behind the session is a collection of thought that has combined the exercise program variables (i.e., reps, sets, intensity, tempo, duration, recovery) in a very specific way. This specific way is implemented in the session and performed to achieve a specific outcome. This is the physical road that leads to your goals.

Entertainment – We are here to engage you and connect you with your deepest session experience possible. A bored, or even worse, a client completely disengaged from the session will not put forth the effort to learn and perform at their optimal level. Yes, it’s a little bit of show business!

After we have gathered assessment information, developed goals, and designed the exercise program, we determine the best proportion we should give you of our EDU-train-ment model. The proportions change based on your personality, stage of training progression, and desired session outcome. In other words, the amount of each factor in your session is in a floating range that is best suited to get you closer to your goals.

Some clients liked to be entertained more than others. The early stages of training are much more concerned with the learning process. A client training for competition in the middle of their power phase should be putting more of their energies into their physical effort. Respectively, the dominant element of the framework for these 3 scenarios would be entertainment, education, and training.

We take a lot of care to delivery to you more than just exercise. We consider your individuals needs and create an environment that supports you in your journey. We know that you come to us for more than just learning how to exercise better. You come to us to help you change yourself and your life for the better.

Second, if you are a cardio athlete … this obvious doesn’t apply to you. If you’re a Lance Armstrong, you have to ride your bike for long periods of time! But many times, there are smarter ways to train for those events as well!!

So I got alot of the same questions about “what else is there to do?” The function of cardio training is to increase your heart rate for sustainable periods of time. You can do this without the “cardio” mind-frame that is so pervasive.

One way to do this is a protocol called The Tabata Method. You perform 20 seconds of an exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest. The traditional Tabata Method only has you performing the high intensity cycles for 4 minutes. This form is for highly conditioned people, but the form can be adjusted to fit any level of fitness. You perform cycles of these exercises, much like a circuit, and it can get your heart rate to the appropriate level. You can modify the exercises and intensity to make it right for you. If you are just starting, you can work at a slower pace and use easier exercises with smaller ranges of motions. As you progress, or if cardio fitness is already high, you can turn the workouts in some specials experiences. This is not the same ol’boring routine.

Some examples of these workouts are:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIA7v315EXs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v2xm2bkeRQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Zy56BqCtA

Now, I don’t promote any of these workouts, exercise form, and intensity … and of course, you should always consult your physcian prior to starting any exercise program (for sake of my lawyer!). This may be a way to change your cardio to get some real results.

So let me know what you think … or if you try a Tabata workout, let me know how it goes!

Second point to make here, if you’re going to do something to try to “burn calories” and lose fat, you can at least do something a little more functional. Moving your body through space is much different than moving it on a fixed piece of cardio gear. It’s amazing the workouts you can get done without any equipment and a little “imagination”! Walking, climbing stairs, or even doing some physical work, but with a fitness goal in mind, can move you to better shape.

One of my favorite cardio workouts is to simply find a long set of stairs and perform repeats. Repeats are what they sound like. You go up and down the stairs and then you repeat. You can do the repeats by picking a certain number of reps and sets to complete, say 3 reps up and down for a total of 5 sets, or you can perform until you move to your desired training hear rate zone for the number of sets you want. Using heart rate to determine your pace makes the workouts more custom for you.

On my last stair climbing workout, I performed 5 reps for 10 sets. The video clip below is of my last set. As you can tell, I was losing steam, but I had a great time!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnWKUtaficQ

If you’re tired of the same ol’ cardio boredom, try to add a functional cardio routine to your workout and see how your body and mind responds! If you do, let me know how it goes.

So I know what your thinking, “How could this be? The more we move, the more chance we won’t be fat?!?! What kind of bad science is this?” Well, according to the research, those that used active transportation in Latvia, Sweden, and the Netherlands were 67 %, 62 %, and 52 % respectively. Their rates for obesity were 14 % in Latvia, 11 % in Sweden, and 9 % in the Netherlands. What the heck are they doing over there to only have 9 %?

By comparison, in the U.S., only 12 % use active transit and we have anywhere from one-quarter to one-third of the population falling into the obese range. For those of us who live around the Washington Metropolitan area, as the suburban sprawl make commutes longer and longer, I would agree that we need to move more, but I’m not quite sure we have developed a country infrastructure that supports this.

The county that I live in are now just really getting to the point that bike lanes are readily available and the local area is more setup for active transit. Those that live here, but commute to Washington to work, would have to leave about 3 a.m. to get there on time. Who needs sleep when you can be biking to work for three hours in the morning?

Hopefully, as oil issues become ever more difficult and as the obesity epidemic increases, the new administration will look at developing more of the country’s infrastructure to support active transit and “kill two birds with one stone”.

A good example of this is the article I came across on MSNBC called Michelle Obama’s arms hard-won with exercise. Now whether you are a fan or not, you probably have to admit that the Obamas are pretty busy people, with a lot on their plate. The article discusses how both Michelle and Barack include exercise in their schedules and how they’ve made it a priority.

In a recent interview with Men’s Health magazine, Barack said:

Most of my workouts have to come before my day starts. There’s always a trade-off between sleep and working out. Usually I get in about 45 minutes, six days a week. I’ll lift one day, do cardio the next.

While I wouldn’t advocate losing sleep for a workout, it does show his commitment. We’ll have to see if he has the ability to continue this through his administration. The article does point out that many of the people who have spent time in the White House have a tradition of including exercise as a part of their routine.

If these people have the time to include it in their schedules, maybe most of us do as well. To make exercise a priority, I would start by setting a dedicated time to workout on the days you intend. I prefer to get it done first thing, so nothing interrupts it. You should view as an appointment you have to keep, not something that has a lot of flexibility to it. If you have to move or cancel it, then you just reschedule it, like a doctor’s appointment!

There are many ways to get fitness into your schedule. Many of my clients are extremely clever about how they make the time. If you have a creative way that you think might work for others, I encourage you to post a comment.

Kids and seniors?…. next I’ll probably be saying something completely ridiculous … like exercise can help everyone’s brain. Oh wait I don’t have to, The PBS special The Brain Fitness Program already did. See a preview here on YouTube.

The great thing about a principle is it doesn’t change to due to circumstance. Get some exercise for your brain today!

I get questions all the time about how hard people should be doing their cardio exercise. I could get into complicated heartrate equations and talking about cardiovascular exercise testing to find maximal oxygen uptake capacity, but the quickest and easiest for me is the rating of perceived exertion. It’s a scale from one to twenty that subjectively measures how hard you are working and can be associated back to heartrate. A number between 12-14 usually is a good level for most people. If you’d like to read an article about how to use the rating for perceived exertion, there is a very good one on About.com by Elizabeth Quinn. Click here to get full article.