That was just how it was years ago. When you go to the gym, you workout for at least 1 hour getting your cardio in for 30 minutes and then lifting weights for 30 minutes (or more).
In fact, at one of the gyms I worked at back in the day, there were a handful of people that I would talk with about over training possibilities at least once per week because they would come to the gym for 5-6 hours per day!
I don’t know about you but that sounds terrible to me…and I’m the crazy one who not only likes working out enough to do it, but I have a business that promotes it! ;o)
In my opinion, people have other things to do in their day than just to be at the gym.
Now, maybe if you’re working on powerlifting or bodybuilding it might make sense, but if you’re someone who wants to be as healthy as they can be to raise their quality and enjoyment of life but also has other responsibilities, then we need to step away from the past and start moving towards a more efficient way of doing things.
Just because we’ve done something 1 way in the past doesn’t mean it will always be that way. If you’ve ever raised multiple children, you know what I’m talking about. The thing that worked with child #1 didn’t work with child #2 maybe because they have different likes / dislikes or maybe it’s because you learned more by child #2 and figured out that what you did before wasn’t the best way.
Well, that’s what’s happened in the fitness industry. We’ve continued educating ourselves, learning and researching and through all of the trial & error, we’ve found a better way.
Every now and then I get a client in the door who feels concerned that their workout is only 30 minutes long, but after they give it their 100% for a week or two, they see the difference.
See, reaching the goal isn’t in the duration. It’s in the efficiency of what you are doing. In our “old school” style we would have focused on 1 muscle group per exercise (think about the typical gym equipment – arm curl machine, leg press machine, etc.) and that not only takes a lot longer to complete a full body workout, but it also hinders the activity of our core and cardiovascular system.
Not too long ago (in terms of research) new ideas began emerging that changed the way that smart fitness professionals do things.
We found that moving more of your body and including more joints in every movement promoted better results.
We found that increasing the intensity/frequency/duration of your exercise while strength training caused positive change to occur faster.
We call these things like metabolic training, HIIT training, Intensity circuits. You may have heard some of these names before.
Now, not only did we find that these styles of training were more efficient, we also found them to be more effective with the general population (ie. you and me)
The people who aren’t athletes or body builders. The population that just wants to look and feel the way they wish they could.
So if you’re ready to see more results faster, it’s probably time to ditch the “old school” way and think outside of the box.
And remember, if you would like guidance on this new journey, feel free to contact our team. We’d love to walk you through it.