When I was a kid, I hated PE class in elementary and junior high. Don’t get me wrong, I loved playing the team games like basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball, and flag football. But I hated the exercise part of each class. Pushups, situps, pullups, leglifts, burpees, and cherry pickers were no fun at all. And don’t get me started on the Presidentail Physical Fitness test. I hated that thing and was terrible at it.
But those things that I did in school back in the 80’s aren’t so bad anymore. Today, what I dislike the most about exercise is going to the gym where everything revolves around the weight benches. The whole place is crammed with free weights and machines of all kinds. I walk in the place and get so overwhelmed that I usually head straight for the treadmill. I know that I need to lift weights and build more muscle to get my body as firm as I want it to be. But the choices at the gym paralyze me. I want nothing else but to return to the good old days of my youth–what I wouldn’t give for a few sets of body weight exercises to help me get stronger.
There are a ton of options for body weight exercises. And lots of blogs that focus solely on them. Check out Mr. Low Body Fat’s Blog, or Fatman Unleashed to check out a few.
Probably the most popular fitness trend these days are those “boot camp” style classes. These types of classes have gotten away from workouts where you focus on one specific muscle group during a particular workout. Instead, they concentrate on what is called “functional fitness.” Functional fitness refers to overall strength in performing everyday activities like lifting, reaching and walking while simultaneously improving cardiovascular fitness.
One of the keys to functional fitness is to focus on your large muscle groups and to activate several at once. Complex movements such as those aforementioned calisthenics mimic natural activities that your body was designed to perform. Running, jumping, squatting, lunging, kicking, skipping are great physical activities that we all did as children and (most of us anyway) have really gotten away from as we’ve aged.
The best aspect of training with functional fitness in mind is that each and every workout is a whole body workout. You are supposed to engage every muscle group during each workout and it’s supposed to be fast paced enough to raise your heart rate for the duration of the workout. An added benefit is that this type of workout is supposed to ramp up your metabolism for a longer period of time post-workout than a traditional weight lifting or cardio session. So not only are you burning more calories during the workout, you’re also burning calories at a higher rate for a longer time after the workout. That’s an awesome benefit.
The gym I go to offered two sessions of a functional fitness class that they called “bootcamp” last year. At the time, I was doing fine with my personal trainer and the extra cost associated with the class was enough to discourage me from signing up. I’m no longer using a personal trainer (I should be) and I’m not really working out with weights or other functional fitness methods these days. So if the class was offered again, I would sign up in a heart beat if it was offered at the right time.
It seems that these bootcamp classes are all over the place. Several gyms in Salem offer them and The New York Times recently published an article about them. It’s got some really interesting information in it that you might want to check out if you’re looking for a new way to get a great workout.
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The P90X workout uses a similar mindset. It’s mostly body weight exercises and ones that use dumbbells or resistance bands. It can all be done at home also. I’ve been doing it for 4 weeks now, and have seen a huge improvement.
Haha, I haven’t thought about the President’s challenge for years. They gave us these books that gave exercises to do at home and it said, “if you do all these exercises every day, then you will win the President’s challenge.”
So, even at age 11 a type A personality, I did every exercise every night, and got the golden t-shirt
There are lots of boot camp shows as well! I haven’t watched it yet, but “The Last 10 Pounds” on FLN looks good.
I will second the P90x workout Josh recommended. The same company also puts our a workout series called Insanity (which is insane) and totally works on functional muscles. I have done both workouts and both have increased my functional fitness greatly (all in the comfort of my own home).