By Howe Russ
A few years ago, holistic training was one of the most popular choices among fitness enthusiasts around the world. But today it has faded into the background a little. Here, we are going to be looking at this training method and pointing out the main benefits and drawbacks.
While the industry is seemingly hell bent of discovering new training methods designed to get you in and out of your local gym in less time than ever before, it's important to remember that there are a few quite basic routines which still work better than anything which has been developed in the last decade.
If you ask any trainer for advice on how to lose weight you'll be able to see that the current trends on the exercise circuit are high intensity interval training and boot camp workouts. However, if you traveled back in time just a few years that answer would have been slightly different.
The height of popularity for holistic approaches to exercise was probably the middle of the eighties, where everybody from action movie stars to athletes were adopting this technique in a bid to keep their workouts at the cutting edge of science.
The definition of the word holistic is very simple. It means variety. If you apply this to a gym setting, this means you'll be adopting several different training styles into the same program. Usually you'll be switching styles every seven days.
Is there any actual benefit to this method of exercising?
The two largest advantages are listed for you below.
* Weight loss and muscle growth will be increased via a constant focus on new training sessions, never allowing your body to adapt.
* It also forces the fitness enthusiast to try new workouts and keep their routine interesting.
If you are one of the many gym users who suffers from an inability to stick to a program once the novelty has worn off, or if you simply find it hard to break out of a plateau once your body has adapted to your exercise routine, then this method is perfect for you.
You'd be training for both lean muscle gain and weight loss simultaneously, which appeals to the majority of gym users. By switching on a weekly basis between low rep strength training to high rep endurance workouts you'll notice your overall fitness level improve dramatically, too.
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.
Depending how important that factor is to you, you may actually really enjoy this way of exercising. Holistic training is one of the simplest forms of breaking a plateau and, therefore, it's usually one of the tried and tested methods which pops up whenever any gym user asks for tips on how to lose weight.
While the industry is seemingly hell bent of discovering new training methods designed to get you in and out of your local gym in less time than ever before, it's important to remember that there are a few quite basic routines which still work better than anything which has been developed in the last decade.
If you ask any trainer for advice on how to lose weight you'll be able to see that the current trends on the exercise circuit are high intensity interval training and boot camp workouts. However, if you traveled back in time just a few years that answer would have been slightly different.
The height of popularity for holistic approaches to exercise was probably the middle of the eighties, where everybody from action movie stars to athletes were adopting this technique in a bid to keep their workouts at the cutting edge of science.
The definition of the word holistic is very simple. It means variety. If you apply this to a gym setting, this means you'll be adopting several different training styles into the same program. Usually you'll be switching styles every seven days.
Is there any actual benefit to this method of exercising?
The two largest advantages are listed for you below.
* Weight loss and muscle growth will be increased via a constant focus on new training sessions, never allowing your body to adapt.
* It also forces the fitness enthusiast to try new workouts and keep their routine interesting.
If you are one of the many gym users who suffers from an inability to stick to a program once the novelty has worn off, or if you simply find it hard to break out of a plateau once your body has adapted to your exercise routine, then this method is perfect for you.
You'd be training for both lean muscle gain and weight loss simultaneously, which appeals to the majority of gym users. By switching on a weekly basis between low rep strength training to high rep endurance workouts you'll notice your overall fitness level improve dramatically, too.
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.
Depending how important that factor is to you, you may actually really enjoy this way of exercising. Holistic training is one of the simplest forms of breaking a plateau and, therefore, it's usually one of the tried and tested methods which pops up whenever any gym user asks for tips on how to lose weight.
About the Author:
Teacher: The UK's most followed fitness instructor, Russ Howe PTI teaches thousands of people how to lose weight in the gym each week. Discover holistic training with his free guide today.
