Be FIT … Don’t Sit

November 17, 2013

For those of you who have been training with me a while you may have noticed something different about FIT training, the workouts are always focused on functional movement and very little time is spent in isolation.  In other words, I don’t provide you with a variety of machines dedicated to train one individual muscle.  That trend should have been long gone in the 80’s and 90’s but I have been hearing that many facilities and/or ‘fitness professionals’ still teach and practice with those outdated principles.  For those of you who are not training with me, what that means is that you should be getting more from your workouts.

In the real world we rarely find ourselves in movements where we are  isolating one muscle group or joint.  Sure, lifting a gallon of milk onto the counter may isolate the Brachioradialis momentarily, but let’s not forget the secondary groups and or stabilization muscles that help us to move the gallon of milk to the counter.  In life, we use our muscular system without really thinking about our movements at all.  The amazing part is that our brain does all the work to make our muscles and joints adapt to whatever specific demands we impose upon the body through the central nervous system.  A wonderful coordination of activity happening without your conscious decision, I just love it!  Which leads me to my point, when you do your exercising … keep it functional.  Do your exercises from your feet and keep activity fluid, controlled, and in proper posture. If you are sitting down to get your exercise … well, your sitting down??

Here is a question for each of you?  What exercises do you think you can create using only one single isolated muscle?  Think about it.  If you can find an activity or movement that is so specific that I cannot mechanically identify ‘points of contraction’ (other muscles or joints also working);

1. The Prime Mover (Agonist)
2. The Secondary (Synergist)
3. The Stabilizer
4. The Antagonist

I will gladly give you a free FIT Personal Training Session.  This is a challenge to those of you who are not currently clients at F.I.T. , and for those of you who are active clients, I offer you the same reward!  So let’s see who is thinking about their leverage system and the muscles that move it.

In good health,

Bob

“If your hips aren’t movin, your core isn’t groovin” Gary Gray