The best piece of fitness equipment
What is your favorite piece of fitness equipment? Over the years I have been asked that question many times, and over the years my answer has changed many times. Give me a barbell and a couple of plates and we’ve got the best fundamental movements available with deadlifts, squats, presses, and pulldowns. Give me a medicine ball and a wall and we’re in for an explosive and challenging hour. Give me a TRX and I’m ready for a demanding full-body workout that incorporates strength, stamina, balance, stability, and flexibility. All of these are great tools; tools that I definitely use every week with all my athletes and clients.
Today I’d like to update my answer: my favorite “piece” of equipment is my own body.
I am definitely someone who loves to use the latest and greatest gear out there today. I love going to trade shows to see what the newest fashion pieces are. I think it’s important to continue to challenge and improve our bodies in new ways. I think it is more important to first make sure that we are healthy and efficient when moving in an unencumbered environment. We all have enough weight on our bodies to stimulate our muscles and mind to work harder and get stronger.
An important yet simple question to consider when training a client or creating a program for someone is, “Why are you doing this exercise?” You need to be able to back up every exercise you have someone do and explain why that particular exercise is helping that person improve and achieve their goal.
Let’s recap a typical day for the majority of the population… the desk jockey.
Today
7:00 am SIT down for breakfast
8:00 am SIT in your car to go to work
8:30 am After the Starbucks drives by (Enter the store? Please…), they get to work and SIT at their desk for the next 7-8 hours.
* Suppose that during the next 8 hours you can stop a couple of times to visit the photocopier, fax machine, vending machine, bathroom (to sit a little longer), etc.
5:00 pm Leave work and SIT down to drive to the gym for an evening workout.
At this point, the hip flexors, pectorals, and anterior shoulder muscles are tight, and the glutes are inactive. His scapulae are stuck in protraction… we have the common upper cross and lower cross syndromes. Why the hell would we have them come to our facility and seat them?! Why would we put them on a seated bench press machine for 4 sets and super-set with some “6-pack toning” abs? Unless we’re in cahoots with the local physical therapist, it’s just an unhealthy idea. We are hurting our customers and, in the long run, doing them more harm than good. I’m definitely not saying that we shouldn’t do bench presses and crunches (okay, I might be saying no crunches, but that’s a discussion for another time), but I’m saying that if you have a bench press client; remember the question: why are you doing this exercise?
This typical client is a big reason why my favorite piece of equipment is my own body. Today, many clients enter gyms and fitness centers with muscle imbalances and injuries. We need to “re-train” and “readjust” many of their movement patterns with body weight exercises and corrective movements to re-educate them before we start loading them.
Everyone is unique; your goals, strengths, weaknesses, imbalances, etc. they are all different. This is the reason why standard programs are not very effective. Many of my new clients are wondering when they are going to sit on the leg extension machine so they can do some isolated knee extensions or sit on the pec-deck machine and pump their chest. These STDs (Selectorized Training Devices) are not going to be included in the program that I develop for 99% of my clients. However, bodyweight movements will be included in 100% of my client’s programs. Your typical client trains with you 3 hours a week, which means that there are 165 hours that they are not with you. Based on this limited time together, we need to make sure we’re helping them the best we can. We want you to be able to perform your activities of daily living effectively and without pain. Isolating the quadriceps in a seated position is not going to accomplish these goals.
What about the progressions?
After explaining to clients the rationale and benefits of bodyweight training (especially in the beginning), I often hear that they won’t get a challenging workout without using equipment… “But I won’t get stronger”, or “I’ve always used weights before, so I won’t work my muscles enough with just bodyweight.” Once the client realizes how demanding bodyweight movements and progressions can be, their questions and comments are quickly answered. There are many ways to incorporate progressions into bodyweight movements. Here are some suggestions:
1. Changing Angles – Raising your feet in a traditional pushup will increase the percentage of your body weight that you are pushing off the ground.
2. Stability – Shifting your base of support from a wide stance to a narrow stance will increase the challenge of balance.
3. Plyometrics – Adding an explosive movement to an exercise will increase the demand. An example is a jump squat vs. straight squat.
4. One Leg: Every time we go from 2 legs to 1, we add a balance component. This is useful for recruiting stabilizing muscles throughout the leg.
I should mention that for many people, especially those who are new to exercise, a prolonged dynamic warm-up (the Movement Preparation and Muscle Activation sections below) will be an adequate workout for the first few sessions.
Here is a sample training session – 6 sections
A. Preparation for movement (5 to 10 minutes)
Movement: knee hugs, quad stretches, cradle walks, hamstring kicks, side lunges, glute kicks, high knee runs, side shuffles, karaokes, jumping jacks
Stationary: 4-part squats to stands, jumping jacks, seal shots, throws, door swings, and balance reaches
B. Muscle activation (5 minutes)
Bridges (2 & 1 leg), Side ABD/ADD Work, Hamstring Kicks, WYT Prone Raises, Bird Dogs, Cats & Dogs
C. Power/Plyo (2-3 minutes)
Perform the three movements for 2 series.
Burpees (10 reps), Jump Squats (10 reps), Skater plyos (20 reps)
D. Resistance training (15-20 minutes)
*Perform the 7 movements for 3 series. For beginners, keep your rep range between 8 and 12.
*Can be performed in circuit for a greater cardiovascular challenge.
1. Reverse lunges
2. Variation of push-ups
3. Side lunges
4. High bridges
5. Balance reaches
6. Planks
7. Side planks
E. ESD-Energy System Development (15-20 minutes)
* thing one
Hill Repeats: Find a local hill that takes 30-45 seconds to climb to the top. Do 10-12 runs. Walk between each set to recover.
Mixed sprint job: Locate some local landmarks (phone poles, city blocks, street signs, mailboxes, etc.). Run to a waypoint and watch your time. Double that time for your recovery period. Repeat 10-12 intervals with this work to rest ratio of 1:2.
F. Flexibility (10 minutes)
*Flexibility is one of the most overlooked aspects of fitness. Take time to stretch at the end of each session to aid recovery and help reduce the chance of injury. Our “Flexibility for Performance” DVD provides great full-body stretches.
*Hold each stretch for about 30 seconds
1. Seated Hamstring Stretch
2. ADD/ABD Stretch
3. Butterfly stretch (groin)
4. Stretch 90/90
5. Pigeon pose
6. Downward Facing Dog
7. Standing Lateral Pushups
8. Standing Neck Stretches
Conclusion
You can see in this 60 minute sample routine that we only use one piece of equipment. I should also mention that “it” is easy to transport, requires no assembly, and is so versatile that you can use it anywhere: your home, your backyard, the gym, a neighborhood park…you get the idea.
There are a plethora of variations for almost every exercise included in this sample workout. When it comes to using just your body, you are only limited by your creativity. Now tell me; What is your favorite team?