Fitness Results — FRESH! Fitness - A division of FRESH! Wellness Group

Resistance Training Principle #11: Apply Progression for Continuous Results!

There are literally hundreds of different exercises you could perform to get the results you are looking for. However, it isn’t the exercise that is the most important thing. It’s how you do it (technique) and how you progress, change, and modify the exercise over time to keep your body adapting. This is where the expert advice and support of a qualified and experienced Personal Trainer is invaluable. If you are just getting started, begin with basic exercises.

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Resistance Training Principle #9: Get in Touch with Touch Training

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If you have ever watched a great Personal Trainer working with their client, you may notice that that the trainer will often use their hands and touch their client while training. They are not trying to get “fresh” with their client (no pun intended); they are using an actual physiological principle to maximize training effects.You see, you have sensory receptors on your skin.

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Resistance Training Principle #7: Do Your Muscles Talk? Practice Neuromuscular Facilitation

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I know, it sounds complicated, but really it is quite simple. This term simply means, putting your mind into it. Neuromuscular facilitation is just a fancy way to say “Smart Muscles” or teaching your muscles to contract more effectively.Even though it may not seem that way, when you begin a workout plan, your muscles are under direct control from your nervous system (brain)!. In order for you muscles to contract, a signal from your brain (nerve stimulus) must be sent to the muscle with the “instructions” that cause it to fire at the correct intensity level. So, the coordination between your muscles and your neurological system is critical to maximize any movement or exercise.

That’s why at FRESH!, our goal is to teach proper movement and coordination first. In other words, we teach your brain and muscles to communicate more effectively. Once we accomplish this goal, EVERY other fitness and body awareness improvement is MUCH easier to make! This muscle-nerve relationship can be used to your advantage to maximize the effectiveness of your workouts. [Read more...]

Resistance Training Principle #6: Throw your Program in a Blender to “Mix it up”

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In Principle #5, we discussed the concept of Overload and its importance to experiencing ongoing results. You can maximize the Overload principle by regularly changing and updating your program. You see, the only perfect training program is one that changes continuously.A program that we design today, may be perfect today, but in about 4-8 weeks, it will no longer be able to produce the results you want. It doesn’t take major changes to ramp up the results again. Even subtle “tweaks to the Frequency, Intensity, Time, or Type of activity will work. Even the order of the exercises and rest breaks you take (between sets, exercises, and workouts) are great ways to “mix it up” and keep your body “guessing”. The options are limitless.

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Resistance Training Principle #4: Weight Train on Alternating Days

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You may be surprised to learn that you don’t get stronger when you weight train. You actually get stronger during the rest periods between your workouts. At a cellular level, when you weight train, your muscles experience microscopic tears. The body responds to this “micro-trauma” by sending blood and nutrients to the muscles to help them heal. And that’s exactly what they do. They respond by getting stronger. So, it’s important to avoid working the same body part (to failure) multiple days in a row. Otherwise you will not recover properly and miss out on one of the primary benefits of doing resistance training.Each specific muscle requires at least a day rest in between a hard training session. So, if you’re following a full body routine, you’d want to weight train on say, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If you were doing a split routine, you could work out your lower body on Monday and Thursdays and your upper body on Tuesdays and Fridays.

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Resistance Training Principle #3: Sets and Reps

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One of the first questions asked in the weight room is “How many sets and reps should I do?” Well, let’s start by first understanding the difference between these two terms.The number of repetitions refers to the number of times you perform an exercise without stopping. The number of sets refers to the number of times you perform a complete series of repetitions. For example, you may perform 2 sets of 10 reps.

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Cardio Principle #9: Quit being a statue!

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The body does not respond very well going from inactivity to very intense activity. The cardiovascular, musculo-skeletal, neurological and metabolic energy pathways need to be gradually stimulated in order to perform at an optimal level. In other words…you need to WARM-UP properly to get the most out of your workout!

Muscles that are warm have a much better ability to extract and utilize oxygen to produce energy. As muscles warm up, the enzyme activity level is increased. This means that fats and sugars are broken down more rapidly, and more energy and less lactic acid (the burning sensation) will be produced. This will enhance your performance and increase your ability to burn fat!

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Resistance Training Principle #1: Quality is more important than quantity

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Resistance Training (aka weight training) is the “missing link” in so many programs. Those who aren’t doing it have been missing out on the #1 way to boost metabolism, get a fit, functional, fabulous body, and feel amazing! On the other hand, we find that those who are doing resistance training regularly on their own are often doing it incorrectly and missing some important benefits.The following series of tips will outline the key principles responsible for creating top quality results in less time than you ever thought possible. Have fun and enjoy!A resistance-training program that does not focus on technique will get you results much more slowly and may put you at risk for injury. Here are some important reasons why…

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Cardio Principle #8: Double the Fun, Double the Results!

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As I’m mentioned in the past, mixing up your program is critical to long-term success. We are always looking for more ways to “Shock” the body into adapting. “Doubling-up” on your workouts is a great way to do this. This means that you perform two workouts (or activity sessions) in a single day.

From a time perspective, it isn’t convenient to do this all the time. However, doubling up doesn’t mean spending hours in the gym. It could be as little as a 20 minute strength circuit in the morning followed by a 20 minute run in the evening. The total time is 40 minutes. This is less than most people would do in a single workout, but if you keep moving the entire time and do things correctly, you will get 3-4 times the actual work done that the average person does in a full hour! That means 3-4 times the results too!

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Cardio Principle #7: Are you a slave to the Machine?

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If you’ve ever worked with us before, you will know that at FRESH!, we do not believe in machines. Some mechanical tools are helpful, but most people are slaves to the almighty machines in the typical health club. This is especially true with cardio equipment.

Go to any health club during a busy time and you will be hard pressed to find an available machine. There may even be a line-up or wait list for them.
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