People exercise for a variety of reasons. For most, it’s to achieve a physical result. Whether that be to feel fitter, drop body fat, build muscle or tone up. Regardless of your intended outcome, it’s important to include a variety of movements in your daily routine.
What we have always focused on with our clients is to focus on getting them STRONG! When you’re strong, you can do so much more. You can;
Train harder
Train more frequently
Lift more weight
Recover quicker
Be more active
Burn more calories at rest
Plus so much more…
This is why we often spend so much time focusing on the big lifts; Deadlifts, squats, chin ups, bench press, and overhead pressing. These exercises and movements require a lot more muscle activation to perform them well, hence burning more calories to do so.
When it comes to functional movement, they are also very primal in their raw form. Deadlifting is utilising bending. Squats we do every day when we sit up and down from a chair, pick things up, carry kids etc. Chin ups and bench press utilise the push and pull components of every day life. Overhead pressing is also a great movement to be strong in to make sure that when the time comes to be strong while pushing overhead, we are! Even the smallest of tasks, like lifting a box onto a high shelf. Sure, not overly similar, but nobody hurts their back doing deadlifts well, they hurt it picking up their bag.
These movements burn so many calories to perform, hence giving us better bang for buck when it comes to training. A squat heavy program will burn more calories than an aerobic fitness class for example, simply because of the delayed response from the session. For example, in the 2, 3, 6 hours after a big squat session, your calorie expenditure will be so much greater than after a HIIT class.
Now, in saying that, to ensure you’re at your peak when it comes to performance, being strong and good at all aspects of fitness, it’s important to perfect all of them. Squat heavy AND crush out some HIIT classes.
Stay healthy,
Coach Liam