Surveying the wide selections of programs and equipment in the fitness world today can be an overwhelming prospect for the average student.
Without guidance, it is not uncommon for students to get caught up in bad habits like overusing specific fixed-motion strength machines or spending hours on cardio week after week, only to find later that they are not getting the results they were hoping for.
This can lead to burnout which is bad for both the student and for the rec center. Fortunately, this can be prevented with the right equipment and programming.
One simple solution can be found in cable based functional training. An easy way to explain this to users is that people do not move in fixed motions. Your training program should include a 3-dimensional approach. All movements in our day to day life including home, school, and sports activities are dynamic and happen in three planes of motion. These planes are referred to as the sagittal (forward/back), frontal (side to side) and transverse (rotational).
Apart from the pec fly and rear delt fly machines which operate on the sagittal and frontal planes, most fixed motion strength machines only operate on a single plane. Functionally-integrated programs are multi-dimensional and can combine movements for a more dynamic approach to fitness.
The benefits to functional training are varied and many. Functional training builds all the key components of fitness including flexibility, cardiorespiratory, strength, balance and coordination, and is effective for beginners and gym veterans. Jake Petersen, Product Specialist at Core Health & Fitness expands on these benefits, “Functional strength training may be the most intuitive type of training at your fitness facility. Performing everyday movements under load to gain strength totally makes sense. Functional training is great for your core and forces muscles to work together that otherwise don’t in many single station strength or free weight exercises.”
Functional training products like HumanSport® let you work in dynamic full body movements the follow your natural movement paths. These translate into the movements you will use in your actual life and allows you to train for specific activities.
For example, imagine an exercise that mimics the movement pattern of a golf swing. Instead of identifying the primary movements involved in a golf swing and systematically training each muscle in isolation, HumanSport allows you to focus on the combinations of movements and exercises that actually resemble the activity you’re training to enhanced.
Functional training programs can be used for body building, rehabilitation, sports performance, weight loss and specialty programs, and it can bridge the gap between traditional strength training and cardiovascular training to achieve any desired goal.
For HumanSport, our team of Master Instructors have developed programming for a wide variety of activities and fitness goals. These include traditional goals like strength and weight loss, to more specific training for sports like golf or tennis. The HumanSport programming platform makes it easy to tailor different programs to your students’ needs, giving them a better overall experience and better results.
The 6 versatile HumanSport machines allow for an infinite number of exercises, comes with a wealth of engaging, adaptable programming, and allows for an endless cycle of interesting and dynamic workouts that will keep your students in the rec center and on the way to meeting their personal fitness goals.
Are you looking to incorporate a HumanSport workout into your fitness routine? Download this functional training workout to get started today!