COMPONENTS OF CORE-DEVELOPMENT & FUNCTIONAL FITNESS

Core-Development:  Any exercise that involves the use of your abdominal and back muscles in coordinated fashion counts as a core exercise. For example, using free weights in a manner that involves maintaining a stable trunk can train and strengthen several of your muscles, including your core muscles. 

Functional Fitness:  Exercises designed to train and develop your muscles to make it easier and safer to perform everyday activities, such as carrying groceries or playing a game of basketball with your kids. 

Athletes: Training specifically for their particular Sport.

Athleticism is also enhanced, and is formed by ten key components that make up balanced physical fitness, or what we refer to as complete athleticism. They are strength, speed, power, agility, anaerobic capacity, aerobic capacity, mobility, balance and coordination, mental resilience, and stability.  

CIRCUIT TRAINING OVERVIEW

Circuit Training is an exercise method in which you Perform Multiple Exercises in a Row, with Minimal Rest In-Between. Once you complete all the exercises you rest for 1-2 minutes before performing the circuit again. Typically, circuits will contain exercises that target a variety of different muscle groups so you can work on improving your overall fitness level; or focused on a certain part of the body.

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CIRCUIT TRAINING is a world-wide known method to train, and in 1976 I had the privilege of being trained under Gary S. who worked directly beside Dr. Arthur Jones who invented and introduced the entire worlds’ eye towards the Nautilus Circuit Training System. Thereafter, Dr. Jones' equipment & system became a popular method of training especially with athletes the world over - even to this day.

MRT Metabolic Resistance Training is a system of repeated bouts of short duration, which includes circuits, speed, and low rest, packing a double-punch of aerobic and anaerobic work (lower intensity muscular intense, using resistance, mostly weights, type exercises) - breaking down barriers between traditional weight training and cardio. 

HIIT is a very HIGH intensity for those that are fairly fit.

MIIT is a LOW intensity, a level that most everyday exercisers can handle.

On a 1-10 scale of perceived exertion, high intensity can be considered anything over an effort level of 7. When using max heart rate (MHR) as a guide, high intensity can be considered exercising above 80% of MHR. 

Similar to how a car’s engine remains warm after being turned off, once a workout is over and you’re back in your daily routine, your body’s metabolism can continue to burn more calories then when at complete rest. This physiological effect is called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. Also known as oxygen debt, EPOC is the amount of oxygen required to restore your body to its normal, resting level of metabolic function (called homeostasis). It also explains how your body can continue to burn calories long after you’ve finished your workout, from 90min. on up to 24 hrs. depending on the level of intensity.

Your metabolism is how your body converts the nutrients you consume in your diet to adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the fuel your body uses for muscular activity. ATP is produced either with oxygen using the aerobic pathways or without oxygen relying on the anaerobic pathways. When you first start to exercise, your body uses the anaerobic energy pathways and stored ATP to fuel that activity. 

A proper warm-up is important because it can take about five to eight minutes to be able to efficiently use aerobic metabolism to produce the ATP necessary to sustain physical activity. Once a steady-state of oxygen consumption is achieved, the aerobic energy pathways are able to provide most of the ATP needed for the workout. Exercise that places a greater demand on the anaerobic energy pathways during the workout can increase the need for oxygen after the workout, thereby enhancing the EPOC effect.

EPOC is a key benefit of metabolic training is increased excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). EPOC can be defined as disequilibriums in physiologic function that lead to an increase in recovery metabolism (McArdle, Katch, & Katch, 2014).

The increased calorie burn is caused by the body working overtime to get body functions back to resting metabolism. To do this, the body needs to resynthesize lactate to glycogen; reload hemoglobin with oxygen; start tissue repair; and redistribute calcium, potassium, and sodium in the muscle cell (McArdle, Katch, & Katch, 2014).

We know that weight loss or body fat reduction is largely based on a numbers game. And “working out” is a way of controlling the numbers (less calories in, more calories out and weight loss change can be achieved). Cardiovascular training and resistance training both have many desired benefits and we know that both should be done to achieve the best physical shape a person desires – but how can we get those “cardio” and “muscle building” clients to learn and embrace the benefits of both? One great way to get the most out of your training program is to combine cardiovascular work with resistance training using a method called Peripheral Heart Action (PHA) Training. This method is similar to a regular circuit training method that keeps you moving from one exercise to another with minimal to no rest between exercises. However, with PHA training, while you are moving from one exercise to another, you are focusing on alternating upper and lower body exercises.

In traditional circuit training techniques, clients are asked to move quickly from one body part to another in a “circuit” fashion that allows each body part enough time to recover before it is worked again. For example, if using a vertical loading circuit training system that begins with working the chest, followed by working the back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and legs. When starting with the chest, the following exercises allow you ample time for the pectoralis muscles to recover before working them again. Using a PHA system, you are performing a variation of circuit training; however, they are simply alternating upper and lower body exercises. 

OVERCOMING ISOMETRIC: You're pushing or pulling against an immovable resistance (e.g. pushing against the pins in a rack). Thus there's no external movement but your intent is to MOVE THE RESISTANCE (even though that's impossible).

YIELDING ISOMETRIC: You're holding a weight and your objective is to prevent it from going down. Once again there's no external movement; however, your intent is to PREVENT ITS MOVEMENT.

Both techniques won’t have the same effect; the neural patterns used in both cases will be different. 

(OVERCOMING ISO may have a bigger impact on concentric strength; YIELDING ISO on eccentric strength & MUSCLE MASS)

NEGATIVE RESISTANCE TRAINING: Anytime the weight is being forced by gravity or the 'pulling' of an apparatus and the subject resists against the force/weight to moving in a controlled SLOW & STEADY manner through the full range of movement.

If you can't currently complete the distance you wish to race and you would like to run that specific distance faster – you lack Stamina. If you cannot currently complete the distance (as is often the case for new marathoners) then you lack Endurance.  

 Properly done exercises may improve Insulin Sensitivity (helps the exercising muscles more readily use glucose for fuel to make energy).