"Group Exercise"

In a typical fitness center you've got a range of choices in fitness related services.  The common breakdown is:

1) personal training

2) small group or specialty training and

3) "group exercise"

Those are in order, by the way.  Personal Training, for the average "health seeker" or aspiring fitness enthusiast, is often your best choice (with a good personal trainer - which should be another post altogether).  You've got one-on-one time with an industry professional to ensure you're getting the most from your efforts, continually progressing and improving as well as enjoying the process as much as possible.

Small group training, often called "specialty training" is, of the three, your second best option.  A group of 3-5 people all receiving instruction on similar activities (i.e. kettlebells, TRX, etc) to the a mutual intent; getting a good workout.  And with a small group it is possible to achieve this while even being able to emphasize basic technical principles and movement quality.  This is generally your best "get-in, get-out" option with a professional as you can still receive individual attention.

Last on the list is "group exercise."  These go back to your "step classes" and such of the '80s.  The Les Mills program is commonly implemented now in big box gyms and other facilities but the gist remains the same in other programs - when I move, you move.  Now, I'm not entirely against these "classes" as nearly everything can have its place but you won't find me following along with or leading one.  (By now, you've likely identified my overuse of quotations marks and parenthetical thoughts but the word "classes" being in quotes above has a very deliberate meaning to it.)

When I think of classes I envision an environment of instruction, learning and performance.  Frankly, this is not what I've observed of group exercise "classes."  There is certainly activity but seldom have I seen any great deal of coaching or teaching or, dare I say it, progressing taking place.  Concordantly, its tough to imagine any substantial learning is going on either.

Rather than continuing to ramble on let me just draw a comparison between PT and GX:

Personal Training process:
1) Consultation regarding your goals, injuries, past exercise experience, etc.
2) Fitness Assessment: measurements of anthropometric variables (circumfrences, etc), movement screen (identifying weaknesses... with-which you are riddled), strength tests, cardio tests, etc.
3) A fitness progression* designed around your goals, limitations and interests
4) Continued accountability of weekly meetings to guarantee progression, examine training journals and nutrition logs and discuss new lifestyle strategies
5) "Homework" workouts and recipe ideas for the next week

Group Exercise process:
1) Walk in
2) Do what I do
3) Burn a few calories
4) Continue to mistake activity for accomplishment

Am I being a negative prick about this?  Yes.  Am I generalizing?  Some.  Can GX "classes" have their place in a well rounded fitness program?  Sure.  Is it you best option or even a good option for many people?  Absolutely not.  If you're a beginner this is literally being "thrown to the dogs."

If you can't look at your efforts of the last, let's say, 1 month and show me your improvements (literally show me, pull out your training log and show me the numbers - strength gains, bodyfat loss, etc.) then what you are doing, no matter the class or activity, is spinning your wheels.  From my observations, showing up to a no-obligation, little instruction class with 20 other people is not optimizing your time in the gym nor is it doing much to improve your understanding of health or your health itself... its spinning your wheels.

*My use of "progression" in place of "routine" is another topic altogether, also.

Health is Not Static or Health is Not The Absence of Disease

I made reference to this idea in a previous post and it is a frequent topic of conversation with the general gym populace.

Your health is not static.

I'll relay a recent conversation I had with a gym regular.  In this same conversation I learned that this gent. is 100lbs. less than when he started "hitting the gym" and building healthy habits.  It is also quite clear that he is at least 100lbs. north of what might be considered a "healthy bodyweight."  Anyhow, he smirked as he mentioned his visit to the doctor earlier in the day and the "clean bill of health" he received for the 3rd time in a row.  To be fair, this means his blood sugar, pressure and lipids were all largely within, at least, reasonable ranges, etc.  But, to be honest, let's look at the reality of things.  There is simply nothing healthy, long- or short-term, about carrying around 100+ pounds of (largely central) adipose tissue.

And here's the real take-home point.  When I stated that fact as clearly as I could.  I could see in his eyes before he verbally acknowledged that it was the truth.  That he was/is largely kidding himself to think of his current state as "healthy."  Because, probably more accurately stated...

health is not simply the lack of disease.

He is not diabetic or cancerous or any of these hazardous and traumatic states we associate with being "unhealthy" but should we not begin to give the correlational credit where it is due and rightfully consider that obesity bears a striking resemblance to disease?

And couldn't we also consider that simply because it may not seem immediately life threatening, there is nothing healthy (and certainly nothing beneficial or economical) about being overweight or obese?

Isn't it time to question being happy with being not unhealthy?

Or maybe more absurdly, isn't it time to consider being unhealthy... unhealthy?

iMapMyFitness

The odds are pretty good that you, like me, invest an inordinate amount of money in a ridiculously advanced and all-consuming phone-like product (i.e. a smartphone).  Now, I tend to be behind the times with technology these days (partly deliberately) but I don't recall hearing about an app that will go so far as to exercise for you but there are several simple and easy to use Applications that have proven to be, at worst, extremely entertaining and, generally, very helpful.

I enjoy hiking and walking/jogging/running around with the wife and dog and I encourage my clients and the general membership to follow suit.  And by simply hitting "record" in the iMapMyFitness application I can get a presumably accurate picture of how fast I got the walk or run or ride down, just how far I went and a map view of the course I followed.

This makes it exponentially easier to try and do the same route a touch faster or to simply go farther next time and so on.

So, a big fancy phone with fancy gadget-try attached (my wife has a flashlight application... almost ridiculous) isn't on my "required" fitness tools list, but they're damned helpful.

Try it out.

Do gyms allow fitness?

In a previous post I talked about some of the differences between training to be healthy, training to be fit, training for performance and the hierarchy we find here.  I think of these as I spend my days at a good representation of the spectrum of gyms (big box, 24 hour joints, etc) and I'm forced to question; are the top two tiers of this hierarchy promoted or even tolerated in said facilities?

Being of the legitimate "meathead" group which has largely been shunned to garage gyms and warehouse facilities (this should be addressed in later posts) and yet still having the "insider" view of things as a professional in the field I am obligated to say that no, generally, they are not.  There are some "ins and outs" here but let's keep it general for now.

I say this because along with training to "be fit" comes a need to push limits.  To push the limits on physical capacity, exercise/activity selection and probably the most problematic for the management and stuffy regulars... social norms.

The first of these should seem reasonable enough.  In order to improve one's overall fitness level it will be beneficial to progress; decrease your 3k row time, improve your 10RM overhead barbell press or, if it might strike your fancy, score a better "Fran" time.  Whatever it is, do it faster, higher and stronger.  Citius, Altius, Fortius, as it were.  And you will find this happening although it is certainly not the normative behavior for the average gym-goer.  And what a shame.  The simply act of writing down a workout so that you can improve on it next time around (do it faster, with less rest, with more weight, with more reps or whatever the metric might be) can be a slippery-slope into the progress and results we all talked about when we first joined the gym, so its advisable to tread wisely.  You could mess around and get in shape...


Why this simple step is not pounded into the heads of any gym's membership is simply unfathomable.

When it comes to what people actually do at the gym (or their workouts abroad) its a pretty standard state of affairs.  "Resistance training" on one day and "cardio" on another or some variation thereof.  The resistance training most often meets expectations; some bench pressing, simple dumbbells stuff, an inordinate amount of sitting on a machine and pushing through one plane of motion.  The cardio is your standard cyclical activities like walk or running on the treadmill or otherwise, riding bikes, ellipticals, etc.

Riddled with bodybuilding dogma, to be sure.

Frankly, even with your choice of exercise you begin facing limit number 3.  All activities listed above are certainly what you would "normally" see at the gym and any deviation from those choices attracts attention.  And attracting attention at the gym can be a bad thing; complaints from other members and warnings from a staff that may not be privy to the idea of a "muscle-up" or a "kipping pull-up" or a "one-arm dumbbell snatch."  And this could jeopardize your membership at the facility and your fitness level.

To back up for a moment, what recently lit this flame under my rear is a group of gals at one of the gyms where I train clients.  (It's actually Charlotte Anderson and company whose antics and musings I recommend you follow).  These gals are extremely passionate about fitness and have taken on the hobby of pushing the limit.  One of their more recent pursuits has been hand-stands (and, I would assume, hopefully soon hand-stand push-ups, etc.).  As you might imagine this is way outside the normative behavior for this particular gym.  It draws attention, scowls and I would guess that this, and other "acts of fitness," have gotten them in, at least lukewarm water, with the folks in charge as a result.  But, do you know what is really wrong with doing "crazy shit" like that at the gym?

Nothing.

And frankly, I would suggest that a little less interest in boring, mundane workout "routines" and having a little more fun at the gym would serve the general public well.  Very well.  Extremely well.  This is at least one element of the now cumbersome "Crossfit" phenomenon that I find to be glorious.  Stand up, run around, do some impressive shit and be fit.  In general terms, what's wrong with that?

Overall, the third limit that must be pushed is, as much as anything, a societal norm.  Ask anyone about fitness or a good workout or what they do at the gym and it is very likely to be similar to what I described above ("some cardio, some weights").  And, especially at larger gyms, the masses flood in and practice reinforce this very low, very boring standard of what it means to "workout" and it is far too often ignored by the working professionals available to them.

The people who need the help, set the standard.  And the people who should be providing the help, far too often, support it... or at least aren't willing to challenge it.


Pick things up, put them down.  Eat good food.  Go do stuff.


- PMH

What are your metrics?

We've established that you're not at the gym to simply be active (See here.). So, to safeguard ourselves from this apparently perpetual state of non-accomplishment we need a variety of "metrics" to guarantee that we are moving forward. First, there is the obvious and standard measurements often taken at the beginning of a training program (waist, hip and the other circumference measurements), body composition and simple strength measurements. So that secures a chance to check in on the worthiness of your efforts every couple of months or, at best, few weeks.

So, what's your standard ADD-"I want it all, I want it now"-American to use? Your first and simplest option is a notebook. It needn't be anything fancy but somewhere to record your workouts so that you can initiate and observe your progress will be vital to knowing that you're accomplishing your goals, step-by-step.

Your next option, and my personal favorite, is a stop watch. As an aside, if there is one tool that could single-handedly cut down your time at the gym, the stopwatch is it. Very few people workout for 45 minutes to an hour but a lot of people spend 45 minutes to an hour (or even more) at the gym. Get a stopwatch and start timing your workout. Push start as you begin warming-up, monitor your rest periods between sets and make a record of the time when you push stop. Also experiment with doing timed sets versus counting repetitions.

Watching your rest periods will not only cut down on total gym time but also bring a new element to improving your fitness level.

Of the many metrics we could cover here the third of my big 3 is the most costly but equally as beneficial; heart rate monitors. Your time spent trudging through "cardio" and pushing yourself with metabolic conditioning circuits will likely be revitalized by manipulating rest periods based on your actual heart rate response rather than simply time.

I'm okay with "my pants are fitting better" (from women, at least, guys don't have clue how their pants fit...) and periodically testing your body composition or weight but doesn't the idea of knowing each that you've gotten better sound much more appealing?

Engage in your training, take the time, and get what you want.

Healthfulness vs. Fitness vs. Performance

Relative to the fitness industry and the goals people bring to it, I break the state of the body into three categories;

healthfulness

fitness

performance

Most people have goals of improving their health (weighing less, improve their blood sugar or blood pressure, "core strength," etc) and many appreciate the need to achieve beyond this minimum and have fitness goals (5k time, improved overhead press strength, the ability to meet a greater variety and intensity of daily life functions, etc.). The third category receives disappointingly little attention from the sweating, huffing masses. I think of it as a culmination of of the climb up the ladder from a sedentary lifestyle and/or obesity or from wherever you started.  The bodies ability to simply perform, in any given circumstance, can and should be the ultimate crowning achievement for everyone.  It isn't just finding yourself to merely be healthy, but knowing that your physiology (anatomy, etc.) can literally perform at a high level.  It isn't having a decent ability to stabilize your spine but just being rock solid and injury free.

And let me emphasize this need not be running, riding or rowing in races or pushing, pulling or throwing heavy objects (or even people!), maybe this is simply appreciating the ability to take on any task (likely physical or otherwise) that might come your way in a given day. Pickle jars, heavy boxes, running away from... whatever might need running away from. Whatever the daily challenge may be, and it may simply be a challenge workout on your trainer's whiteboard at the gym... wouldn't it be nice to know that you're up for it, without even knowing what it might be?

"No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training... what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable." - Socrates

And part of this, as with the lower states on the scale, is knowing that part of the bodies ability to perform is being structurally sound and stabile enough to avoid the nagging and nattering injuries that plague so many in their day-to-day lives.

The pursuit of these states of the body is not linear and they are, as stated, not mutually exclusive but there is a hierarchy. And if you read Activity vs. Accomplishment you can probably guess my thoughts on climbing this hierarchy.

"Being healthy" is not enough and the state of the body is not static. Get healthy, get fit and then, perform.

Activity vs. Accomplishment

Probably the biggest concern I have regarding the health and fitness level of the gym-going populace and the standard of practice in the fitness industry is the tendency to mistake activity for accomplishment. Doing something is great... for day one. Or, I might argue, for the first 15 minutes. Past that, let's roll. Don't just do something, do something better than before, be better than before! Walk out of the gym better than when you went in, not just tired or sweaty or sore. The purpose of a gym membership, a fitness "program," working with or even being a personal training is not to simply "be active" That is part of the equation, to be sure, but the purpose is to accomplish, achieve, improve...

At nearly any given gym at any given moment there are piles of people under the impression they are accomplishing what they set out to accomplish and that if they just keep putting in the time they will achieve their fitness goals. The most perfect example I can think of is a gal I've been interacting with recently at the big box club where I train clients. She religiously shows up and "does her miles." She carries around papers to write down the miles she covered on the treadmill and in what time. And she shoots for the miles and time she did previously. It's her "routine." She gets her daily activity and most would hold high praise for a gal in her sixties maintaining a regiment like that. And that wouldn't be unreasonable. But I wouldn't, not high praise anyway, and I've told her that. Because it is the very "routine" of activity that is holding her from any significant accomplishment. Somewhere along the line she was given the impression that she needed to "be active" and "get into a routine." And whomever told her that, sold her short, like so many others.

Even the smallest (or gigantic and glaringly obvious, as it were...) suggestions are scoffed aside because "if I don't hold on to the handles, I can't keep up with the machine." This means she wouldn't be able to walk her usual speed and probably not her usual distance... and the whole thing... the routine... out the window.

And this is not her fault. Not entirely. It is the normal state of affairs at gyms everywhere. You very likely have this same tendency. Doing workouts because they are routine and comfortable and familiar... and, dare I say, ineffective? And it isn't entirely your fault either. You, too, have likely been given the incomplete impression that activity is good.  Just move around.

This low standard of merely "doing something" rather than accomplishing something is a tone set by the gym ownership, management and fitness staff. It is my responsibility as your trainer or even as "the trainer" to bring you to question;

...are you mistaking activity for accomplishment?

Are you getting what you came here for? Can you prove it?

Proof is the difference between "activity" at the gym and "accomplishment" at the gym.

A few laps around the track some "arm exercises" and some time on the elliptical is activity - doing more squats in X amount of time than last time or reading a lower body fat percentage than 3 months ago is accomplishment. You have the proof right there and you very likely did it by breaking the routine, stepping outside your comfort zone, if not... its just another activity.