Let’s face it; the modern day personal training client does not have quite the same active lifestyle as people did even 10-15 years ago. In the age of conference calls, online shopping, Blackberries, and commuting upwards of an hour to work; people are not moving as much. Walk into any gym and what do you see? Nautilus machines, treadmills, and elliptical machines. I’m not completely knocking these implements (maybe just a little bit) but how much work do these machines do for you? The nautilus machines only move on a certain track and the range of motion is extremely limited around one or two joints. In terms of treadmills and elliptical machines; how often does the ground actually move you first? Using these tools will certainly burn you some calories but are you getting the most effective workout when it comes to building lean muscle, training your heart, and most importantly- burning fat?
With the sedentary lifestyle that people lead, many times their workouts at the gym or in personal training sessions are all that they do. Those training sessions need to be intense, efficient, and based around the goals of strength building and fat loss.
When clients begin personal training with me in Boston and Charlestown I find that most of them have two major things in common. They are doing a lot of “cardio” and they are not doing enough strength training, or it is done inefficiently. This is especially true when it comes to female clients. Cardio training is great for burning calories and training your heart and lungs, but if you are looking for a long-term change in your body composition and metabolism (the only real way to make your body a fat burning machine) then you must strength train. Now this does not have to be done strictly by lifting a ton of weight and doing body building type workouts. The most effective way to burn fat, build lean muscle, and develop your body into a strong, tight, fat torching specimen is to implement large muscle group exercises and perform essentially a full body workout in each training session.
“Old School” training styles include movements like squats, lunges, pushes, chin ups, as well as Strongman style movements such as Farmers’ Carries, Sandbag lifts, sled drags, and Kettle Bell movements.
Using this style of training will not only rev up your metabolism for that hour, but it will also create a great “after burn” and cause your body to burn a ton of calories and eventually develop a strong, healthy metabolism that will burn fat when you are not training- the ultimate goal!
There are many methods that can be used to develop this efficient and fun type of training. All movements can be modified based on the level of client and their training experience. Here are my top five “old school” movements (in no particular order) for ultimate fat loss and lean muscle development.
Barbell Squats- The ultimate lower body strength movement. There are many ways to modify the squat (front squats, back squats, overhead squats, Zercher squats) but each one will hammer the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and trunk. Working all of these muscles unison will guarantee a huge calorie burn.
Chin-Ups- The King (or Queen) of upper body exercises. This movement can be paired with squats for a killer circuit that will hit all of the big movers. Training your upper back, shoulders, and biceps all in one movement is great for posture and just like the squats; working all of these muscles together can ensure a huge burn for fat and calories.
Prowler Pushes and Sprints- The Prowler is the modern day version of the sled. It’s a great conditioning tool that will burn your legs and lungs like no other. Get rid of your treadmill workout and try a few 30-40 yard sprints, or load up the weight for a heavy push.
Kettle Bell Swings- Another one of the best lower body movements for fat loss and calorie burn. Swings are a quick and dynamic movement that forces the body to work all muscles together in order to keep good technique. The trunk is taxed as the bell is moved from the floor to the front of the body. Try this one in place of your traditional leg press movement!
Sandbag Lifts- Using a sandbag creates instability and essentially keeps the body guessing when it comes to the lifts. All muscles are trained together and a high level of calorie burn is guaranteed because the body is extremely taxed with each repetition. Exercises such as squats, cleans, presses, rows, and Farmers Carries are great individualized or as a circuit.
Using old school and conventional movements are taxing on the entire muscular system, nervous system, heart, lungs, and eventually will create a hard-core metabolism that will burn calories with ease and get rid of that stubborn fat that has been hanging around regardless of how long you run on the treadmill or rep out on the leg press.
The movement combinations are endless but the main goal is to incorporate as many large muscle group exercises as you can in order to efficiently train the body as one unit. In doing this you will see huge gains in fat loss, lean muscle gain, heart and cardiovascular heath, and overall posture and bone health. I have seen great success with my personal training clients.
Callie Durbrow runs small group personal training sessions for people looking to lose fat, get fit and strong, and have fun doing it. For more information on Charlestown personal training visit http://www.durbrowperformance.com
