You want to exercise. Your main goals are staying healthy, looking better, and losing fat. You aren’t a competitive athlete, and you don’t need to bench press 400lbs. So the safest, most effective exercise regimen for you should include your favorite cardio machine, some light dumbbells, and maybe a bodyweight circuit..right? Not so fast. You would actually reap more benefits from a different style of training. Let me tell you why training like an athlete is the best method for reaching your goals.
Your first concern with an exercise routine is safety. Many people think strength and athletic training cause injury, but it can actually prevent injury. Proper strength training uses athletic movements that strengthen joints, tendons, and ligaments. Moving better inside the gym will allow you to move better outside the gym. The better you move, the better you will feel.
Training like an athlete combats our sedentary habits from the day. Cardio machines and “traditional” forms of weightlifting can improve body composition, but they do so in these sedentary positions, which can lead to injury. There is injury risk with ALL forms of exercise, but performing strength training with athletic movements is the best way to promote your longevity in the gym.
Athletic movements like squats can actually strengthen your joints. Properly performed squats contribute to knee and hip health.
Athletic movements like squats can actually strengthen your joints. Properly performed squats contribute to knee and hip health, contrary to popular belief.
Not only is training like an athlete healthy, but it will also help you achieve your fitness goals. It will not only promote fat loss, but it’s also essential for keeping the fat off. Walking on the treadmill for an hour a day, 5 times a week may burn fat, but it won’t ensure fat loss for the long-term. Training like an athlete builds muscle. Increased muscle mass boosts your metabolism. A boosted metabolism makes your body burn more calories. Burning calories leads to fat loss and helps you keep off the fat in the long run. Also, a boosted metabolism allows you to eat more calories to maintain your weight. Eating more without gaining weight? I don’t know if anyone could turn that down!
Strength training leads to muscle mass. Muscle mass leads to more fat loss.
In addition to being safe and effective, exercise should be fun. Exercise requires several hours of your free time each week, so it won’t be easy to keep this as a permanent change if you aren’t enjoying it. Training like an athlete includes lots of exercise variations, so you never have to stick with a movement you’re bored of. Conversely, there is only so much you can do on a cardio machine. When you train like an athlete, there’s the excitement of pushing yourself to lift more weight and perform more reps. The only way to improve traditional cardio is to do it for longer, and being on the treadmill for hours at a time doesn’t sound very appealing. Strength and athletic training give you the opportunity to master your own body weight in challenging ways. Accomplishing this gives one a great feeling of pride that isn’t found with other exercises.
Once you try training like an athlete, you won’t stick with it because you have to, you’ll stick with it because you want to. Safety, effectiveness, and enjoyment are the keys to any training protocol. Training like an athlete offers all three. It might be intimidating at first to perform these athletic movements. But I promise, once you experience the gratification of mastering athletic movements, overcome challenging resistance, and see great results, you’ll wonder why you ever trained any other way.
Here’s something you might not have known about GameChanger Gym. While we specialize in training baseball players, we also have an adult program that is specifically designed to help you burn fat, build lean muscle & get into the best shape of your life. If you’re interested in our adult program & would like to schedule a free consultation CLICK HERE & we’ll get started today!
