January once again, and many people are re-starting or re-examining their physical exercise practice. It is easy to get lost pondering all the different exercise methods available to us in Gold Country this new year of 2013. You could spend a lot of time studying this or that exercise method, yoga, Pilates, spinning, “cross training,” Zumba, there are many more. There are endless volumes of information detailing the techniques of , and theories behind each of the myriad of choices. There are countless arguments and counter arguments concerning the effectiveness of each philosophy.
Luckily there is a quick and simple way to accurately compare and contrast the different exercise modes: look at results. Beautiful or impressively technical language in ad copy do not transfer into results for you in the real world. Neither will the mere presence of complex and expensive, equipment. However if you see people achieving consistent outcomes that you want for yourself, there is the place you should be. Trying to make an informed choice from ad copy written by people who are selling you something, will not lead to an informed choice. Listening to the opinions of persons with no knowldege or experience of which they speak, can only lead to wasted time and disappointment. Instead of wondering, or laboriously researching to find out if what you are reading or hearing is truth or BS, just observe the results.
Want do we mean by results? Results should match your goals. Believe it or not people really struggle with this. Working up a good sweat is not a result. It is a side effect. An example of a result is: an increase in strength. Here is a list of typical goals which we hope become results:
- Increase strength
- Lose fat
- Improved heart health
- Increased stamina
- Increased speed for athletics
- Improved flexibility
- Injury proofing
- Improved balance
- Improved quality of life
- Winning more often in sport.
The side effects and incidental events listed below are not meaningful results or goals:
- Muscle soreness
- Absence of muscle soreness
- Sweating
- Being exhausted
- Collapsing or failing during exercise
- Doing “intense cardio.”
- Feeling really “worked.”
- Working the “core.”
- Really focusing on “form.”
- Being really good at Zumba-lates or Five Step Salamander Kung-fu.
Number ten is a reference to sometimes very popular exercise classes that may sound good on paper, and maybe even look pretty impressive in action, but neither the students or the instructor seem to accomplish anything outside the class. In other words the practitioners are uniformly weak, slow and physically inept at every other activity that is not the class. They have become good at the class, but little true results have occurred.
The instructor and students in an exercise class may truly feel really “worked,” and really focus on “form.” However that is no guarantee that any true result named in the upper table will follow. This is why it is difficult for most people to evaluate an exercise program in one session. You must either do a number of weeks of work and evaluate your own results, or closely observe and question long time students, if there are no long time students in the program or class you are attending, well, that is an issue.
It is important to compare programs by results per hour of work, and per dollar spent. When comparing a program that takes 6 hours a week out of your life to a program that only takes 3, an adjustment must be made. If the 3 hour program yields half the results of the 6 hour, the programs are equal in value. If the 3 hour program yields 80% of what the 6 hour does, the 3 hour is superior. Same when comparing two programs that both cost the same, but the cost may represent different amounts of instruction. Don’t make the mistake of choosing your exercise program the way most people choose a babysitter. A cardio kickboxing class may cost only 5 dollars an hour, and you will be present, in a certain room for one hour. Instruction in real martial arts may cost four times as much, and the result may be ten times more significant and satisfying in your life, even though we are comparing the same amount of money spent. In other words going to a real, quality martial arts class 4 hours a month will achieve ten times more benefit than going to cardio kickboxing sixteen hours a month.
It is interesting to note that people who lead the group exercise classes typically seen in large gyms or health clubs, usually get paid the same hourly rate as babysitters,. Expecting something beyond a warm, present body is perhaps wishful thinking.
I invite everyone in Gold Country to come to our group classes this month. Form is Function are offering a 2 for 1 deal. You are invited to talk with our students and instructors about their results. We also do private training if the group classes are not your scene. Many of our students and all of our instructors are competitive athletes, some are even professionals. Most likely you have seen them in action and been truly impressed. That is an example of a meaningful result. Our people are not merely good at liftng kettlebells. They have true, comprehensive strength which they carry with them into every arena with confidence. Join them, join us. – EK