ARTICLE: Not losing weight? Functional Training is the way to go!
By Chad Cannon
Have you ever gone to a gym and watched someone workout? Do you ever see anyone really workout? I mean really workout where there is sweat dripping down their back and they are barely able to breath? Probably not too often.
Here is the honest to god truth about fitness:
You are not working hard enough if you are not losing weight!
We as a population have been taught to sit down on a machine and push and pull, where the machines are doing the movements for us. To me that is not making common everyday functional movements better.
It's time for us to take charge of our own bodies and move, move and move some more! You can get stronger from pushing and pulling, but you'll never be fit if you don't get off your derrière and move around.
It's just fact that being fit means moving around. Twisting, turning, rotating, bending, stretching, curling, extending. Forget sitting on a machine where the movement is done for you. Instead stand up on your own two feet, or just one foot, and move using cables, and bands, medicine balls, or even your own body weight.
Try this just one time:
The next time you go to the gym try not talking at all for just 30 minutes. The only reason to open your mouth is to catch your breath and to drink water. And take no more than 30 seconds between exercises.
Don't tell me you have to wait on a machine. Don't use those machines. Grab a band and do some chopping movements. Grab a medicine ball and slam it onto the floor as hard as you can 50 times. Lunge across the floor while twisting your upper body. Do a push up then bring your legs in, stand up and jump up as high as you can over and over again until you drop. Put your hands on a bench and jump over it moving side to side.
All this is called functional training. This is how to get fit. This is how to lose weight. This is real exercise!
I'm just telling it as I see it. I've worked in gyms as a personal trainer for over 15 years, and people just don't work as hard as they should. Learn to push yourself. There's nothing like it! Honestly, you will feel exhilarated after doing this stuff. You'll feel like you've accomplished something. That alone, is a reason to do functional training!
Try it! There's nothing like it!
About the Author:
Chad Cannon is a certified personal trainer, weight loss expert, author, speaker, and director of Shaing Concepts in Hilton Head, South Carolina. His website is www.shapingconcepts.com
Kat note:
Dvd examples of 'functional training' (click on the link to watch a video preview):
Bob's Bootcamp Segment from The Biggest Loser CardioMax dvd
Pick Your Level: Fat To Firm Fast
Tony Horton's P90X+ (very functional...and VERY tough...)
Gunnar Peterson is very well-known trainer in Hollywood. Brooke Burke is one of his clients. He actually has several workouts out, that are all functional in nature. These are the only ones Collage carries:
Gunnar Peterson's Core Secrets Agility Ladder Total Body (with ladder)
Gunnar Peterson's Core Secrets: Agility Ladder Lower Body
10 Minute Solution: Kettlebell Ultimate Fat Burner
Patrick Goudeau: Play Ball
30-Minute Breakthrough: Upper Body & Core
30-Minute Breakthrough: Lower Body & Core
Patrick Goudeau's Hard Work Conditioning 2
Kathy Smith's Matrix Ultimate Sculpt
Kathy's Lift Weights to Lose Weight 2
Mindy Mylrea's All About Legs
Have you ever gone to a gym and watched someone workout? Do you ever see anyone really workout? I mean really workout where there is sweat dripping down their back and they are barely able to breath? Probably not too often.
Here is the honest to god truth about fitness:
You are not working hard enough if you are not losing weight!
We as a population have been taught to sit down on a machine and push and pull, where the machines are doing the movements for us. To me that is not making common everyday functional movements better.
It's time for us to take charge of our own bodies and move, move and move some more! You can get stronger from pushing and pulling, but you'll never be fit if you don't get off your derrière and move around.
It's just fact that being fit means moving around. Twisting, turning, rotating, bending, stretching, curling, extending. Forget sitting on a machine where the movement is done for you. Instead stand up on your own two feet, or just one foot, and move using cables, and bands, medicine balls, or even your own body weight.
Try this just one time:
The next time you go to the gym try not talking at all for just 30 minutes. The only reason to open your mouth is to catch your breath and to drink water. And take no more than 30 seconds between exercises.
Don't tell me you have to wait on a machine. Don't use those machines. Grab a band and do some chopping movements. Grab a medicine ball and slam it onto the floor as hard as you can 50 times. Lunge across the floor while twisting your upper body. Do a push up then bring your legs in, stand up and jump up as high as you can over and over again until you drop. Put your hands on a bench and jump over it moving side to side.
All this is called functional training. This is how to get fit. This is how to lose weight. This is real exercise!
I'm just telling it as I see it. I've worked in gyms as a personal trainer for over 15 years, and people just don't work as hard as they should. Learn to push yourself. There's nothing like it! Honestly, you will feel exhilarated after doing this stuff. You'll feel like you've accomplished something. That alone, is a reason to do functional training!
Try it! There's nothing like it!
About the Author:
Chad Cannon is a certified personal trainer, weight loss expert, author, speaker, and director of Shaing Concepts in Hilton Head, South Carolina. His website is www.shapingconcepts.com
Kat note:
Dvd examples of 'functional training' (click on the link to watch a video preview):
Bob's Bootcamp Segment from The Biggest Loser CardioMax dvd
Pick Your Level: Fat To Firm Fast
Tony Horton's P90X+ (very functional...and VERY tough...)
Gunnar Peterson is very well-known trainer in Hollywood. Brooke Burke is one of his clients. He actually has several workouts out, that are all functional in nature. These are the only ones Collage carries:
Gunnar Peterson's Core Secrets Agility Ladder Total Body (with ladder)
Gunnar Peterson's Core Secrets: Agility Ladder Lower Body
10 Minute Solution: Kettlebell Ultimate Fat Burner
Patrick Goudeau: Play Ball
30-Minute Breakthrough: Upper Body & Core
30-Minute Breakthrough: Lower Body & Core
Patrick Goudeau's Hard Work Conditioning 2
Kathy Smith's Matrix Ultimate Sculpt
Kathy's Lift Weights to Lose Weight 2
Mindy Mylrea's All About Legs
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by KatCarney on -
The 4 workouts produced by Tracie Long Training are also all functional training workouts:
Better Burn, Better Buns with Tracie Long
Stabilization exercises to strengthen the hips, butt and thighs. Feel a burn like you've never felt before that will shape and
sculpt without the bulk from traditional heavy weight lifting.
Endurance for Movement with Tracie Long
Stimulate more muscle fibers faster with the integrated stability ball exercises in this workout. That means greater results in less time!
Strength in Movement with Jen Carman
Improve balance and confidence in movement. Single leg exercises- a staple in the TLT workouts-give you the greatest
strength benefits for your everyday movement.
Finding your Core with Susan Harris
Firm the entire body from the inside out by using the mostversatile piece of equipment, the stability ball. Burn 30%
more calories than traditional strength training.
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Permalink Reply by February-Star on -
I really like the look of those Tracie Long workouts. 1 question though... on her website it says you need:
Equipment Needed:
• dumbbells (3–10 lbs)
• stability ball
• cloth rag or paper plate
What is a paper plate for?!
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Permalink Reply by KatCarney on
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february-star said:What is a paper plate for?!
Look at the clips in the links below. About half way through each one, you'll see Tracie using a yellow towel (but a paper plate will do.) They're used to allow for 'sliding/gliding' movements that are quite popular in functional training. Using a towel or a plate allows you to do exercises that might otherwise be done on a *SLIDEBOARD* .
Another option is to use a product called ValSlides. I showed ValSlides to my trainer last year and he fell in LOVE with them (to my dismay, since the exercises are HARD (but effective)). See here for more specific exercises: http://www.valslide.com/
He especially liked lunges with these things:
Rear Lunge: http://www.valslide.com/video/workout/Valslide/valslide_rev_lunge/v...
Side Lunge: http://www.valslide.com/video/workout/Valslide/valslide_side_lunge/...
The portions of the TLT's with the towel appear about half way into each clip.
Better Burn, Better Buns
http://www.collagevideo.com/workout-video/better-burn-better-buns-7610
Endurance for Movement
http://www.collagevideo.com/workout-video/endurance-for-movement-7620
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Permalink Reply by February-Star on
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Wow - Those things are cool! I bet they really help with your form. I might invest in one in the new year! *bookmarks*
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Permalink Reply by KatCarney on
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I have a love hate relationship with valslides. They're VERY effective, but I hate the exercises with a passion. HATE. But when my trainer made me do them, I just shut my trap, and did them.
If you can find any of the advanced Core Secret dvd's with Gunnar Peterson, he's REALLY good. (Currently, he's on the road with Jennifer Lopez getting her back into shape...or in better shape (since I don't know she's ever been in 'bad' shape).
I REALLY like him: http://www.gunnarpeterson.com/
He demonstrates most of the exercises in his videos here: http://www.propelfitnesswater.com/gunnar_one-on-one/video_trainer/
(Virtually everything he does has 'functional training' in mind)
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Permalink Reply by KatCarney on
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Feb-Star, here's a good example of using paper plates (the plate set starts 1:50 into the workout, again at 5:39 with a different exercise, ):
2 more plate exercises 2 minutes into this video:
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Permalink Reply by Juwairiyah on -
Great I feel so forward progress with my functionaly training! and truth be told I really feel the Cardiomax after I am done all day long.
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Permalink Reply by KatCarney on
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Juwairiyah, did you see where Bob has a new bootcamp dvd coming out this month??
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Permalink Reply by Noona on -
valslide looks pretty neat
the video Kat posted with the reverse lunges using the valslides... i love how the exercise model makes it look so simple
and she slide back and forth soo elegantly... PSSSHT!
lol
anyways i totally agree with moving around naturally is the way to lose weight... you are using your entire body when your monkeying around which would only make sense to result in the best outcome
my mother was and still is a strong believer in "classic" exercises like: jumping jacks, skipping ropes, burpees, lunges and dancing :D
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