Revo's tenets of strength

When we're talking about geting stronger,there are three areas Revo likes to focus:

STRENGTH TRAINING - Seems obvious, but what exactly does that mean? It means focusing on three basic lifts: squats, deadlifts and bench press. These are considered "compound" exercises, which simply mean they use a lot of different muscles during the lift. This is the most pragmatc, best bang for your buck approach to getting you stronger, leaner, healthier.

Focusing on these lifts is not "sexy." There continiues to be misconceptions about strength training. Peolpe tend to equate these exercises with powerlifters, i.e. big, fat guys. The fact is, powerlifters are only interesed in one thing: lifting more weight. And having more body mass can be an advantage in competition. Aeshetics plays no part.

You don't want to look like a powerlifter, we get it. But when it comes to these lifts, no one is more knowledgable than these guys. So here's what we do. We take that knowledge and apply it to your training as part of your routine. And then we add the next part to the equation.......

BODY BUILDING - When's the last time you heard that term? Used to be, if you picked up a weight, you were body building. It was the end-all to fitness. But about 15 years ago that started to change. New ideas emerged. Body buildng was seen as vapid, people working out for aesthetic reasons only. Body builders had muscle that was "all show, no go." They looked impressive, but were they doing anything of value with all that muscle?

That's when the idea of "funciona"l fitness began to take hold. Training wasn't just about vanity, it was about staying healthy in an inceasingly deconditioned world America was clearly getting fatter, food politics emerged and baby boomers were not going to go gently into that good night. The value of real weight training began to finally enter our cultural consciousness (though there's still a lonnnng way to go).

While strength training is about doing exercises that work many muscles all at once, body building tends to focus on one particular muscle group at a time. These are isolation exercises. A bicep curl is an isolation exercise. When you do a curl, you're really only working (for the most part) the bicep muscle. There are many valid resons to incorporate isolation exercises into your regiman. More on this in a later post.

SHORT INTENSE CARDIO (SIC) - We at Revo Fit are not fans of long-disance running. It's boring and lame. We have clients that like to run, and that's fine. We are not about dissuading people from doing a physical ativity just because we wouldn't do it (hello Zumba enthusiasts!). BUT, there is a better way.

Better way of what? How about a better way of burning more calories, shedding pesky body fat and increasing your cardio capacity (which leads to a stronger heart and stronger lifts). SIC is exactly how it sounds: short, intense bursts of cardio activity paired with short rest periods.

A great example of this would be the sprint. Remember the sprint? Maybe you did it in gym class or in track and field after school. Not many adults keep the sprint as part of their fitness routine. And it's not because we lose the abilty to run intensely as we age, it's because it's damn hard! So much easier to take a three mile jaunt around the neighborhhod. When it comes to your exercise regimen, easier is never better. Pleases realize this, come to terms with it, and move on.

Here's a basic SIC sprint routine: Designate a distance. It can be specific (50 yards), or general (from here to the flag pole). And it doesn't have to be on a running track. It could be at a park or in your back yard. After a solid warm-up (more on this later), run as fast as you can to the finish line. Walk back to the starting line and run again. Do this 6 times without a break (your walk back to the starting line is your break). Afterwards, enjoy the wave of endorphis co-mingling with the waves of nauseau. SIC indeed!

Sound awful? Don't worry, We'll give you myriad of other options in a later post. In fact wll be delving more specifically into all three Revo Tenets Of Strength on a regular basis.