Women make poor choices in gyms. They are attracted to trends (what they've read in magazines or heard from a neighbor, which is why the menu changes so often), to equipment that displays caloric expenditure or to group classes. Rarely do they choose the thing that will make the greatest improvement in the least amount of time - proper strength training. It's not attractive. Properly performed, it's hard work; and hard work builds muscle. Look at the men.
But we've heard that before. It's a matter of education, something generally ignored by trainers who could and should steer clients in a responsible direction. It's hard to believe that the increase in educational institutes, certification agencies and general knowledge has done nothing to remove myths - only added to the already large pile of nonsense.
The best thing a woman can do in a gym (to reap all the potential benefits of proper exercise) is lift weights. Body weight can provide a start, but not an end. Free weights are better as far as resistance is concerned, but they cannot supply direct nor full-range exercise. Machines can. Properly constructed, machines provide muscles a safe environment and a level of intensity unknown with other equipment. Good Form + High Intensity = Results.
Unfortunately, trainers have put machines on the back-burner if not dismissed them totally. A poor choice. Giving clients what they want instead of what they need has all but destroyed the field of exercise.
If your favorite restaurant fed you what you needed instead of what you'd like, you probably wouldn't return. Restaurants would close. And so with exercise, ladies, if trainers satisfy needs instead of desires, they'd go out of business. The extensive menu has strayed so far from basics that no one knows what basics are. Enough.
Shift your focus away from pointing your toes, ladies, and dig in your heels. Demand proper strength training with the best available equipment. And above all, plug in HARD work. Brief, hard, infrequent. Anything less will waste your time. As Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones put it, "You can swim to Hawaii or take a jet." Quit swimming.
But we've heard that before. It's a matter of education, something generally ignored by trainers who could and should steer clients in a responsible direction. It's hard to believe that the increase in educational institutes, certification agencies and general knowledge has done nothing to remove myths - only added to the already large pile of nonsense.
The best thing a woman can do in a gym (to reap all the potential benefits of proper exercise) is lift weights. Body weight can provide a start, but not an end. Free weights are better as far as resistance is concerned, but they cannot supply direct nor full-range exercise. Machines can. Properly constructed, machines provide muscles a safe environment and a level of intensity unknown with other equipment. Good Form + High Intensity = Results.
Unfortunately, trainers have put machines on the back-burner if not dismissed them totally. A poor choice. Giving clients what they want instead of what they need has all but destroyed the field of exercise.
If your favorite restaurant fed you what you needed instead of what you'd like, you probably wouldn't return. Restaurants would close. And so with exercise, ladies, if trainers satisfy needs instead of desires, they'd go out of business. The extensive menu has strayed so far from basics that no one knows what basics are. Enough.
Shift your focus away from pointing your toes, ladies, and dig in your heels. Demand proper strength training with the best available equipment. And above all, plug in HARD work. Brief, hard, infrequent. Anything less will waste your time. As Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones put it, "You can swim to Hawaii or take a jet." Quit swimming.
No comments:
Post a Comment