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.
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.
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.
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.
About the Author:
Writer: The UK's most watched personal trainer, Russ Howe PTI shows thousands of people how to lose weight in the gym each week. Learn about holistic training with his free guide today.
