Friday, November 28, 2014

Do More With Less

When I started this business back in 2009, the workouts I ran clients through were chock full of variety. I was driven to make sure my clients never had the same workout twice. My hope was that I could help avoid any staleness or boredom in the routines and keep clients excited to come back. It wasn’t a totally misguided approach. Clients did get stronger and they were exposed to a plethora of exercises.

The problem (among many) was there was little rhyme or reason to why it was done. Not to mention, it was near impossible to track the progress of any given exercise because it could take so long for an exercise to be duplicated. Truth be told, not every client needs to see the strength increases in the gym. Many people just need to get moving and they need to know they’re doing so in a way that leaves them at low risk for injury and feeling like they’ve accomplished something.

As the years went by, I became less satisfied with this approach and knew I had to streamline more of what happened here. I have always liked variety in a workout but there had to be a method to the madness. After running myself through a variety of different programs and testing different protocols on clients, I started putting together a system that made more sense. “Rev6” became part of the solution.

To be frank, it was inspired by two different needs: I needed a workout I could do in a minimal amount of time in between clients. In addition, my clients needed workouts that ran at a faster pace so they could get back to juggling work, family and everything else they had on their plates.

Walk into any gym these days and it can be a very social affair. Nothing wrong with socializing. It can actually be very motivating to the workout. Not to mention, it potentially can make time go by faster. Conversely, there are a lot of gym-goers who spend way too much time talking and not enough time working. Now, I don’t know about you but when I’m training, I don’t have time for that. There are too many other things to get accomplished and I need a workout that gives me the most bang for my buck.

In addition, taking too much time to talk and procrastinate between sets and exercises can be detrimental to your goals. It amazes me how many people are bound and determined to squeeze an hour or an hour and a half out of their workouts just to feel they’ve accomplished something.

To the credit of group exercise, there are some modes of fitness that do need to take a bit more time. Because more people have to be tended to, it can be a time-consuming affair. And if you’re inclined to do things like powerlifting, you definitely have to take time between sets so your body can recover appropriately from the stress.

However, for the average person who is involved with exercise most of what you need to accomplish can be done within the span of about 30 minutes. This goes for strength/resistance training and cardiovascular workouts.

But don’t take my word for it. If you’re used to spending an hour at the gym, try this approach for a change. Approach your workout the same way you normally would. This time, take no more than a 1 minute break in between sets of the same exercise and a 30 second break between different exercises. A sample workout might then look something like this:

Lunges for 12 reps each side
30 second break and then
Lat pulldowns for 10 reps
30 second break and then
Push-Ups for 12 reps
30 second break and then
Bicep curls for 10 reps
30 second break and then
Lat raises for 12 reps
30 second break and then
Crunches for 30 reps
Break for 1-2 minutes then repeat the circuit.

Chances are (if you picked appropriate weights for each exercise) you’re feeling something far more intense than what your hour-long procrastinated workout was giving you.

It was ideas like this that helped turn Rev6 into the program it is today. Shorter, more effective workouts and enough variety fused into the program to keep from going stale. In addition, you get to spend enough time on each exercise in a given cycle to actually see progress occur.

As we’re inching closer and closer to our launch date, I wanted to tease a bit more information about what you would find in store when the program is ready for mass consumption.

In conclusion for this newsletter, I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. Christmas is approaching and with it comes the increase of holiday social events, family gatherings and a great deal of food that can easily derail your fitness efforts. Keep your eye on the goal, whatever that may be for each of you and brace for the remainder of 2014.

We’re here to help along the way!

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