The most important aspects of any type of workout routine are a
goal and a training methodology. There is no best workout routine or
training methodology to meet everybody´s needs (despite what some self
professed fitness "gurus" and fitness equipment manufacturers might try
to sell you). First you need to decide on your goal or goals and then
the methodology and routines should follow.
There is no point in
using a training methodology fad or buying the latest equipment if it
does not help you to meet your goals. This may sound like an obvious
statement but:
1. There is a vast amount of money wasted every year on useless equipment and inappropriate training methodologies. Typical examples include gym membership that is never used again after the first few months and fashionable training DVDs that are watched a few times and then hidden away in a drawer.
2. The consequences of this are clear in the obesity epidemic that has crippled the USA and is already threatening to bring the health systems in Western Europe to a crisis point.
3. The fitness and wellness industry continues to market overpriced, profit driven and inappropriate advice and solutions to health problems.
To avoid wasting money simply establish personal goals and choose an appropriate training methodology for your circumstances, based on your own research or the advice of an independent advisor (e.g. a certified personal trainer or qualified expert).
There are many different types of goals. For example, someone may have been told by a doctor that they need to improve their fitness and lose weight for health reasons. Some classic types of health goals include lowering blood pressure, avoiding type 2 diabetes or improving blood circulation. Clearly a beginners workout is needed to allow such a person to develop the skills and strength necessary to perform exercises in an effective and safe manner. A high intensity training workout routine is not suitable and the purchase of a fitness gurus high intensity methodology course will lead most people to failure and despair.
Another goal is toning up or to be more accurate, increasing overall muscle mass and reducing the body fat percentage. For a person with exercise experience and no health problems, general workout routines are appropriate (e.g. with swiss ball exercises and weight lifting workouts). These provide a set of exercises aimed at growing a balanced musculature.
For someone that does not have a balanced musculature or body shape a goal might be to reduce, grow or strengthen certain areas of the body. It is impossible to reduce the fat in only certain areas of the body (a fitness industry myth from abdominal training equipment manufacturers) but it is possible to reduce the total body fat percentage until the area of the body of interest has met a fat percentage goal. Growing and strengthening certain parts of the body is simple and only requires a workout bias towards certain types of exercises. Popular examples include an abs work out or lower back pain exercises.
Workouts for sports performance, sports recovery or sports injury treatment (in fact any workouts for injuries) are very specialised and tailored to the needs of a specific person. For example, to reduce the weaknesses of an athlete and build on their strengths. Injury workouts have two main goals. The first is to accelerate and ensure localised injury recovery and the second is to restore balanced musculature and fitness. Common injury workout goals include hamstring recovery and sprain recovery. The use of a general workout routine would waste time and effort and maintain muscle imbalances or weaknesses.
Another specialist type of workout is a bodybuilding routine (e.g. bench press workout). The goal of this workout is to build muscle mass and a body shape that meets certain accepted criteria for bodybuilders. These criteria are set by competition requirements and not what many people might consider to be a normal or balanced body shape. This means that these routines are not necessarily suitable for anyone but bodybuilders. For example, following the guidelines of a bodybuilding training manual might even be harmful to someone that is trying to lower their blood pressure and unnecessarily time intensive for someone that just wants to tone up.
The final type of workout routine is focused on what I call other self improvement goals. For example exercises to improve attraction to potential partners and/or sexual performance. These types of workouts are not as publicised as other workouts but nevertheless a sex exercise (e.g. core strength training, penis exercises) can be very effective for achieving specific sexual enhancement goals.
So remember that the next time anyone tells you they have the best workout routine and training methodology for everyone's goals take their opinion with a pinch of salt. There is no such thing.
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1. There is a vast amount of money wasted every year on useless equipment and inappropriate training methodologies. Typical examples include gym membership that is never used again after the first few months and fashionable training DVDs that are watched a few times and then hidden away in a drawer.
2. The consequences of this are clear in the obesity epidemic that has crippled the USA and is already threatening to bring the health systems in Western Europe to a crisis point.
3. The fitness and wellness industry continues to market overpriced, profit driven and inappropriate advice and solutions to health problems.
To avoid wasting money simply establish personal goals and choose an appropriate training methodology for your circumstances, based on your own research or the advice of an independent advisor (e.g. a certified personal trainer or qualified expert).
There are many different types of goals. For example, someone may have been told by a doctor that they need to improve their fitness and lose weight for health reasons. Some classic types of health goals include lowering blood pressure, avoiding type 2 diabetes or improving blood circulation. Clearly a beginners workout is needed to allow such a person to develop the skills and strength necessary to perform exercises in an effective and safe manner. A high intensity training workout routine is not suitable and the purchase of a fitness gurus high intensity methodology course will lead most people to failure and despair.
Another goal is toning up or to be more accurate, increasing overall muscle mass and reducing the body fat percentage. For a person with exercise experience and no health problems, general workout routines are appropriate (e.g. with swiss ball exercises and weight lifting workouts). These provide a set of exercises aimed at growing a balanced musculature.
For someone that does not have a balanced musculature or body shape a goal might be to reduce, grow or strengthen certain areas of the body. It is impossible to reduce the fat in only certain areas of the body (a fitness industry myth from abdominal training equipment manufacturers) but it is possible to reduce the total body fat percentage until the area of the body of interest has met a fat percentage goal. Growing and strengthening certain parts of the body is simple and only requires a workout bias towards certain types of exercises. Popular examples include an abs work out or lower back pain exercises.
Workouts for sports performance, sports recovery or sports injury treatment (in fact any workouts for injuries) are very specialised and tailored to the needs of a specific person. For example, to reduce the weaknesses of an athlete and build on their strengths. Injury workouts have two main goals. The first is to accelerate and ensure localised injury recovery and the second is to restore balanced musculature and fitness. Common injury workout goals include hamstring recovery and sprain recovery. The use of a general workout routine would waste time and effort and maintain muscle imbalances or weaknesses.
Another specialist type of workout is a bodybuilding routine (e.g. bench press workout). The goal of this workout is to build muscle mass and a body shape that meets certain accepted criteria for bodybuilders. These criteria are set by competition requirements and not what many people might consider to be a normal or balanced body shape. This means that these routines are not necessarily suitable for anyone but bodybuilders. For example, following the guidelines of a bodybuilding training manual might even be harmful to someone that is trying to lower their blood pressure and unnecessarily time intensive for someone that just wants to tone up.
The final type of workout routine is focused on what I call other self improvement goals. For example exercises to improve attraction to potential partners and/or sexual performance. These types of workouts are not as publicised as other workouts but nevertheless a sex exercise (e.g. core strength training, penis exercises) can be very effective for achieving specific sexual enhancement goals.
So remember that the next time anyone tells you they have the best workout routine and training methodology for everyone's goals take their opinion with a pinch of salt. There is no such thing.
Read More:
♦ 7 Homemade Detox Drinks for... ♦ 16 Simple Tweaks To Help You Lose Weight