Tag: training

In the fitness industry today there is, and most likely always will be, an epidemic of trainers and strength coach’s putting clients through “workouts”. Being on a training program and working out are different. Knowing when your trainer or strength coach is just working you out can be detected fairly easily.

When your being put through workouts you will typically do random exercises every single day with different reps, sets, and complete inconsistency workout to workout. You may also complete an exercise one week and then may never complete it again. As a personal training client this may not bother you in the slightest. After all, you are most likely looking to get fitter and lose body fat; so going through random exercises is no big deal. After you reap the benefits of exercise you lose your initial 10 pounds or so of weight and these “workouts” that you are doing will eventually become obsolete.

Typically you will get a trainer or strength coach that has a so called “philosophy” of training. A trainer that is sold out to one style of training such as crossfit, kettlebell training, olympic lifting, powerlifting, or the emerging philosophy of a functional movement screen junkie… BEWARE of this kind of person! They will have you adapt to their training philosophy instead of adopting their training to your capabilities as an individual. In return of their philosophy you will then receive one workout that’s great and the next that just doesn’t really fit. Or even worse you will get injured as a result of their training style.

Finding a strength coach or trainer that has training principles that he or she stands by and implements various styles of training is someone who will vary workouts, but be able to keep a program consistent enough to continue to see results moving forward. Having a training system and having a philosophy are two different things. Our training at Matt Grimm Performance is a principle based training system catered to the individual according to the initial assessments and goals that the client, athlete, or coach have vocalized. Our training principles at MGP are to get results, be movement based first, and prevent injury. Within those principles fall our training styles according to the most recent research in the field. In later blogs we will get into specifics of how our training program is structured, but for now, simply ask yourself, are you training or working out? Train Inspired!

 

With so many options available in the fitness world today it can be very difficult to choose the right gym or exercise program that fits you as an individual.  When deciding what training program fits your personal needs, start with an assessment. This assessment should include a general health history, movement assessment, and if possible a fitness assessment.

The assessments listed above would fit for the general fitness client looking to shed some unwanted body fat and also the high school or college athlete looking to improve his/her performance on the field of play. Depending on which population or goal set you fall under will determine the X’s and O’s of your assessment.

For the general fitness client assessing your health history is most important. If you are in fact cleared to exercise, the next assessment would be a movement pattern screen to assess your tissue quality and quality of movement. A movement assessment will look deeper at potential movement patterns that may be more harmful than beneficial to the athletes.

After you’ve been cleared to exercise on the general health side and muscle/joint side of things, get MOVING! To get in better health you need to move. If you’re an athlete, training has to be specifically related to the sport(s) you play. Work with a strength coach or trainer to get a training program that would fit you. If you would rather train on your own find quality programs that work on movement not muscles. Get after it and train inspired!