Is A Holistic Training Routine Good For You?

By Howe Russ

Holistic training is an often overlooked workout method which has faded out of the public eye in recent years. However, like most things in fitness, it's once again making it's way into workout programs around the world as the next wave of old training methods makes it's comeback. Today we'll be explaining what this is and why you may enjoy it.

The world of fitness is no stranger to new trends. New techniques are developed every single day to give you a better, more efficient workout. Everything is focused on getting you in and out of the gym as quickly as possible with maximum results, you'd think we don't actually enjoy training in the first place.

Despite the constantly evolving world of fitness, the workout styles you can see on display in any gym or fitness magazine have existed for years. The industry operates on a fifteen year cycle, with old techniques disappearing from the public eye for a while and then making a comeback a few years down the line. So the next time you ask for tips on how to lose weight, bear in mind that the answer you'll be given could be older than you are. This can be seen already with kettlebells and fat loss boot camps.

Back in the 1980's, holistic methods were all the rage. As with most things, we do love to give things scientific names. When you get down to the real facts, however, you'll notice that the things at the foundation of this training method are actually very simple indeed.

If you'd like to train holistically you simply need to inject constant variety into your program. Every week you should train with a different focus in mind.

Is there any actual benefit to this method of exercising?

Actually, there are two huge benefits.

* Constant variation forces new muscle growth and fat loss.

* It also forces the fitness enthusiast to try new workouts and keep their routine interesting.

That's why the main person who would benefit from using this technique is somebody who has always had trouble in the past with their ability to stick to a program. If you find that your fitness goals crumble once you've got past the three month stage, this is definitely something you should look at.

That's because it involves switching between different styles on a weekly basis. You'd be going from training with high resistance and low repetitions in one week, to suddenly doing high intensity sessions involving lots of work the next, followed by extremely low rep strongman style workouts. The constant variation is enough to keep most people away from the slightest plateau. This is great for both muscle building and fat loss.

However, nothing is perfect. There is one potential negative to this idea which could prove to be a deal breaker. It is very, very hard to monitor your progress when you use this concept. Think about it, by switching from high rep workouts to low rep workouts on a weekly basis it can become impossible to determine whether your major lifts have improved or not.

If that's a highly important thing for you then you might want to consider using a different approach. All in all, however, holistic training is something which appeals to most folks and can be used whether your goal is to learn how to lose weight or how to gain strength.


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