CrossFIT Los Altos

If you have visited a number of gyms like I have, you may have noticed that a higher percentage of them are equipped with sophisticated equipment for body-building with a focus on the traditional muscle isolation machines used in working one muscle at a time.

Unless you are a professional bodybuilder that intends to participate in a competition someday, what you probably really need is a way to keep fit and maybe burn some unwanted extra calories. If that is the case, can these gyms help? The muscle isolation machines alone cannot meet your requirement and get you to that fitness level you crave.

On the other hand, there are a few gyms that are equipped with facilities for more functional fitness. By functional, I mean workout activities that cater for not just the strength building part of bodybuilding but on the whole and its application to living fit. To achieve such complete total-workout, other equipment like stability ball, resistance band and tube, cables, Medicine ball and others are put to use.

The muscle isolation equipment work on one muscle at a time as against the total-workout technique that involves combining various exercises to get all your muscles – from your calves to your shoulders – involves in one single activity. The beauty of this is that it prepares you for your everyday activity.

For example, lifting the dumbbell up above your head and down will do a great work on your biceps and triceps but that is about all, while on the other hand, stepping up on a bench, lifting yourself as high as you can and lifting the dumbbells up at the same time will work on your whole-body, increasing stamina and stability.

Even more important is the fact that you do these simple of movements severally in a day without knowing it – lifting stuff into the shelf or climbing the stairs and more. Being fit all round will help reduce stress in that area with an added advantage of living healthy.

Training muscles one at a time is the wrong approach for 99% of the population. There have been too many promises from trainers about how you can become fit from just bodybuilding, but it is all hoaxes. Lean and tough muscles is only a small fraction of the whole fitness goal.

So if you are a beginner or an intermediate and your workout routine has been centered around building your muscle when what you actually need is keep fit, it is time arrange a total-fitness workout routine which may not necessarily include isolation exercises with all the machine that comes with it.

However, if you have got all the muscle you need but want to improve on your performance, a functional total-fitness workout such as CrossFit can also be arranged. Whatever your level, bodybuilding that concentrates on one muscle at a time is not the best way to total fitness.

If the idea is to increase lean muscle and reduce body fat, reduced stress, build as appealing body frame or even harness more energy for your everyday activities, then functional total-body workout is the way 99% of us should go. With the help of a personal fitness trainer, you can achieve your fitness goals and gain overall fitness.