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Article care of flexrx.com
by Rocco Boulay
Have you ever wondered during a weight training session if you were either doing too few or too many sets? Whether you were using too heavy or too light a weight? Whether you were doing too many or not enough repetitions? Until now, most people - from the beginner to the advanced - have trained this way - in the dark. Why? Because in order to customize a workout to an individual, the relative strength of each individual must first be tested. That is, the individuals’ current level of strength must be established. All exercise movements would have to be tested. Once the strength of the individual is determined, then, and only then, would a person be able to apply a formula to calculate a customized training program.
Let’s take a look at today's weight training philosophy. When I played college
football, all the players were strength conditioned using a weight lifting program.
Although we were all tested on our individual strengths (which were all different), the
weight training programs we received were identical. Now ask yourself this — how
could a lineman, a running back, a linebacker, a kicker, a defensive back, and a
quarterback all do the same workout and get the same maximum results? The answer is —
it is impossible. I am not throwing any stones at the strength coaches of today, because
until the birth of Flex Rx, calculating a program to train an individual would take far
more time than the salaries of any of these coaches could justify.
Do you or someone you know, currently have or have, in the past, used a personal trainer?
This "experience" could cost you somewhere between $30-$50 per hour. A good
personal trainer may be able to come close to evaluating your current level of fitness.
They would then have to sit down with a calculator to figure out your program and that
would take many hours. I doubt many do this.
Others may simply ask you to pick up a weight and ask, "How does it feel?"
They then base your routine on that answer. Do they really know how you feel? Not
recognizing what makes for a good personal trainer, you are left at the mercy of someone
who may not be well grounded in the field at all. There are many institutions that will
give a certification on physical fitness training with a limited education in the area of
muscle physiology.
Chances are good that one of these personal trainers may be working in your gym. Finding a
trainer with a bachelors degree in physical education might be a plus but is certainly not
a guarantee. What about the people who are so self conscious about the way they look or the
amount of strength they possess that they are just too intimidated to join a health and
fitness club.
Does this mean that they should not be on a weight training program and reap the myriad of
benefits from it? Should they say to themselves, "I am just not cut out to be someone
who is capable of training with weights?" The answer is, of course, an emphatic no! A
good weight bench consisting of a leg extension and leg curl apparatus, a barbell, and a
set of adjustable dumbbells would do just fine. Even the self conscious can train in the
privacy of their own home! Muscular fitness is analogous to I.Q. A 3rd grader, if placed
in an 8th grade class, would have a terrible time adjusting. The same is true with
muscles. You could not do the same level of training with the same amount of
weight as a highly trained person and expect to gain the same results. Instead, you
would have to find out your own current level of fitness and begin a program at a gradient
that you would easily be able to handle. With Flex Rx™, finding this gradient is a
snap! Printing out an 8 week schedule is even easier!
Until the advent of Flex Rx™, athletes and the public alike have been sweating hour after hour, week after week, year after year to attain optimum physical condition. In today’s fast paced world, time is a valuable commodity. Training without a customized program is senseless. In fact, over training can be detrimental to an athlete while under training is just a waste of precious time. The next time you see someone who has been training with weights for years and looks no different than they did several years ago consider this—do you too, want to waste this much time and look the same? Optimize your training today!
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