If you’ve had personal training at AdMac Fitness, or anywhere else for that matter, there’s a good chance you’ll be familiar with a lot of the exercises we use in most of our programming. They’re not secret exercises, we didn’t invent them - our job is to use them in the correct way to help you achieve your health and fitness goals.
The question then is why do different variations of the same handful of exercises seem to appear in training programmes in different gyms, all over the world?
The answer lies in human movements. There are 7 human movements…
Push
Pull
Squat
Lunge
Hunge
Twist
Gait
All high quality training programmes feature a variation of exercises that are based around these movements. We employ all kinds of variations of deadlifts, presses, pulls, rows, twists, lunges, squats and runs to make sure our programming helps you to perform them effectively. The benefit of training the body in the way it likes to move is that you benefit from both the fitness improvements and functional capacity.
For example, when you’re performing a deadlift, the movement you’re actually performing is a hinge. The will make lifting and carrying easier in your day to day like. When you lunge, you improve your ability to do things like walk up stairs. When you perform twists, you improve your core strength and reduce the chances of back injuries etc.
Making exercise work for the client
Our job as personal trainers is to make sure that we select the right variation of an exercise for you and your goals, rather than just throw together a series of exercises that look good together. We consider your movement restrictions, your goals, your technique, your experience and your physical abilities.
Take squats for example. There are lots of variations of squats…
Back squats, front squats, goblet squats, split squats, pistol squats, jump squats, overhead squats, pause squats, sissy squats, hack squats, negatives etc etc
Your personal trainer will assess all of these options and select the right one for you, your goals, your abilities and your needs. You’ll then be coached through the movement, and your weights, rest periods, sets, reps, tempo and the like will be tweaked to keep you progressing and challenged. It’s not like in a generic training programme where you’re given an exercise and left to your own devices.
Personal training at AdMac Fitness is personal to you as an individual…
How are exercises rated?
The vast majority of your training programme will be based around what we call ‘compound exercises’. These are exercises that use multiple body parts in one go, such as squats (legs, back, bum, core), or overhead presses (chest, shoulders, core, arms), or deadlifts (legs, lower back, core). We make sure these are the bulk of your programme because they’re the most effective exercises.
We bias compound exercises in training programmes because they are the best for improving fitness and physique.
Scientific research shows that compound exercises improve strength more effectively than single joint exercises (such as bicep curls). There is also a hormonal response to the training as well, with evidence showing that resistance training improves the rate of muscle building hormones in people of all ages. This means that even if you thought you were too old to benefit from strength training, the evidence shows you’re wrong!
Once we’ve done the compound exercises, we move onto the rest of the session. That could consist of specific core work, accessory work, isolation work, cardio work or the like. It would have been programmed in advance by your personal trainer.
So are isolation exercises such as curls pointless?
No, they’re not pointless at all, but they have to be used at the right time. You don’t want to put them early into a session, before the compound exercises because you don’t want to be tired by the time is comes to the compound work. They still offer benefit to us, but like any good recipe, it’s about applying the elements at the right time!
The same goes for things like workout finishers - we need to make sure we do them at the right time. If we do them too early, you’re exhausted for the rest of the session, which compromises workout quality. Do them at the end of a particularly hard session and you’re too tired to work at a high enough intensity to make them worth it.
Effective exercise is all about balancing the wants, needs and abilities. That’s why at AdMac Fitness, we’re expert personal trainers with a long track record of delivering excellent results for our clients.
If you’re looking for personal training in East London, get in touch!
At AdMac Fitness we’re not about fads, fashions and short term fixes. We want you to succeed properly over the long term, so with our help and advice you can get your fitness back on track! If you’d like us to help you, contact us on 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!