High intensity, low intensity, functional training, hypertrophy training, power lifting, endurance training, pyramids, reverse pyramids, super sets, circuits,
I’m going to attempt to make it easier for you to find the best style of resistance training for you. Do what you enjoy. The end. Seriously. For the average person looking to get fit, it’s that simple. Not a good enough answer? Ok, let me elaborate more on some of these styles and what they are used for, but I’m telling you right now, I’m going to come right back to “do what you enjoy”.
I’ll start by breaking down what some of the above listed exercise styles are catered to.
High intensity/circuits/endurance: Great for burning fat, increasing stamina and boosting your metabolism and slimming down without worrying about “bulking up” if you follow a proper diet. The downside? If you have joint problems or any injury/disease that prevents you from moving freely and increasing your heart rate, then this obviously isn’t going to go well for you.
Low intensity/hypertrophy/power lifting/pyramids/functional: Great for building strength and muscle which will increase your metabolism which burns more fat even when not exercising. Also great for rehabbing weak joints and injuries. Unfortunately most are bored with this “I pick things up, then put them down again” style of lifting. Also note that these styles of lifting generally require the use of weights which if you’re not taught properly how to use them and how to set up routines, can lead to injury much easier than other styles of lifting.
The latest greatest new fad that guarantees to melt away the fat and build incredible muscle like no other exercise routine ever before!!!: You will definitely see amazing results on all of these new breakthrough exercise routines! There is no sarcasm behind that, they really do work the way they say they do. And so do all of the other routines listed above, the key ingredient isn’t the exercise, it’s following the routine and diet properly and consistently. The exercise doesn’t matter. No one exercise is better than another, just different.
The reason these routines work for most is because it’s different than what most do as far as resistance training. When you change your routine, you’re body reacts to the exercises much better than doing the same things over and over, year after year. Here’s another thing to remember about these fads. The body adjusts and you stop seeing the same results you got in that first 30-90 days. The body goes through homeostasis and grows accustom to what it’s being subjected to. Want a hint to get past that plateau that suddenly hit at day 90? Completely change your routine for a few months then come back to it, you’ll see better results.
So, now that you have an idea of what all these styles are about, you now know exactly what to do, right? Ok, maybe not. Each one of these styles and routines have books upon books written up on them and how they should be done, I couldn’t possibly explain each one in-depth in this article. However, I don’t need to. Unless you are training for something specific such as a sport, then it doesn’t matter what you do, just as long as you do it, do it consistently, and do it with proper nutrition. Genetics and nutrition have much more to do with what you look like than the style you choose to use for lifting. Yes, some styles are catered more towards building muscle, other more towards endurance and so on and so forth, but the differences aren’t big enough to worry about if you are simply trying to lose weight and/or gain strength.
So, what did I say at the beginning of this article? Oh, yeah, do what you enjoy doing! If you enjoy it, then you will have higher chance of being consistent with the workouts rather than finding reasons to avoid it. Don’t just confine yourself to weights in a gym either. Go swimming, play a sport, do martial arts, whatever you enjoy doing. These are all forms of exercise as long as you exert yourself while doing them and watch your diet. So quit wasting time starting and stopping routines trying to find the perfect one and just do what you enjoy. If you do find yourself in the gym wanting to lift weights, do yourself a favor and hire a good trainer, even if it’s just for a session or two. It can be the difference between seeing results and injuring yourself never to return.
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