Archive: Around Town

You might be expecting a list of exercises, sets, reps, etc., but that's not what this column is about. Most regular exercisers fall into their niche workouts, their comfort zone. Usually this revolves around their "strength" and/or what comes easy to them. For example, most distance runners have migrated to their chosen lifestyle because they are aerobically gifted athletes. But, when it comes to improving fitness, working your strength is not what is best for you. You need to work your weakness, what you are not good at, or what you are inefficient at. Unfortunately, this is also what you probably don't like to do.

Constantly training to your strength and for your strength is essential for athletes who are training for a specific sport or event. Shot putters and hammer throwers need to be able to produce as much force in an extremely short one-time throw so they need to train sport-specifically for that ability. But if you wanted to get a shot putter in better general shape, like when they are done competing after college, what would he/she do? It's as simple as doing something completely different. I would possibly try to improve their work capacity or muscular endurance. Training multiple repetitions in a high volume workout would rock their world. His/her body would be forced to completely adapt to the new stress. The result: improved fitness and body composition.

Yogis are attracted to yoga because they can probably bend over backwards to tie their shoes. Muscle-heads are attracted to the weights because they are strong. What would be best for both of them is to have the yoga-heads do some strength training (with weights) and the muscle-heads do some yoga. A complete athlete strength and conditioning session is structured very diversely for this exact reason. My biggest grudge with typical gym group fitness is that it is a solid hour of the same thing: in Les Mills Bodypump-you do about 600 repetitions of light weights in an hour, in kickboxing-you're kickboxing for an hour, in jazzercise-you're jazzercising for an hour, etc.

 

What you can do is keep your "favorite" exercise in the same family, though. If I like long duration cardiovascular conditioning because it is what I am good at, I might just change the modality. This may be as simple as using the elliptical instead of the treadmill. If you are good at abdominal flexion exercises and like to do 300 crunches at the end of your workout, keep it in the core strength family by doing 300 back extensions instead. Once again, eliminate your strength: no crunches allowed. Or maybe you like to bench press because it makes you feel good and are strong at this movement pattern. Keep it in the strength training family by doing bent-over rows and other horizontal pulling exercises instead. Many lifters would probably say to this, "I have a ‘back day,' I do that already." What I am suggesting here is not benching at all; i.e. no "chest day."

 

The ideal workout for you takes you out of your comfort zone. If you are new to exercise, that might be anything at this point. If you have done the same weightlifting routine for years, lifting the same loads with the same exercises, you need something different to improve your fitness. Before you make any changes though, you have to realize what your strengths are so you can identify your weakness, or vice versa. As G.I. Joe always told us, "knowing is half the battle." This is where a good fitness professional can help. Charles Staley, author and strength coach, sums it up simply as, "The best program you can do is the one you're not doing."

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