Monday, April 2, 2018

What exactly does evidence-based exercise look like?

Efficient Fitness is now open in Ellensburg.

It's known in a lot of different circles as a lot of different things — evidence-based resistance/strength training, high intensity resistance/strength training, etc. — but all modalities have a couple different key themes in common: Safety, efficiency and efficacy.

• No one should ever become injured due to exercise. If you're doing something to stay healthy, becoming unhealthy in the process kind of defeats the purpose.

• We all have lives, and unless you really enjoy it, no one should have to spend hours on a treadmill to stay in shape. We should be out in the wild doing the activities we love and spending time with the people we love.

• We should get results! If you're not getting results from your exercise program, why are you doing it in the first place?

So that's all good and great, but what exactly does this kind of exercise protocol look like? Well the short answer is, you can do it a lot of ways! But today I'll explain what you'll see in a typical workout at Efficient Fitness Ellensburg. 

Slow cadence

At Efficient Fitness, we use a slower than normal cadence, which helps eliminate dangerous forces like momentum. Without momentum (swinging the weights) you're able to fatigue your muscles much more quickly — and more importantly — more safely. This combination allows you to exercise sustainably over long periods of time without injury, and makes the workouts brief, giving you more time to play!

Full-body workout

Every client at Efficient Fitness starts with a "Big 5" workout. This includes a leg press, row, chest press, pull over and shoulder press on Nautilus resistance training equipment. This introductory workout covers the entire musculature, and can be performed ad nauseum great results, helping you achieve your genetic potential with regard to muscular strength and size.

If after a few months of training a client starts to show signs of not recovering all the way in between workouts, a split routine can be used. This combines different muscle groups on different days, to allow the muscle groups more time for recovery. For example, on a Monday you could focus on lower body exercises, and on Thursday you would perform upper body exercises.

Meticulous note taking

Every Efficient Fitness workout is recorded with precision, to make sure we keep track of how you are progressing. We track the exercise, the time-under-tension (the length of time you perform the exercise), the weight used, the seat and handle positioning of each machine, the date, the duration of the workout and more. All this data helps us track your progress and make sure you are recovering properly between workouts. If you aren't recovering properly, the correct steps can be taking to ensure you do!

Here's a video from www.HITUni.com, where Simon Shawcross performs a Big 5 workout under the direction of Dr. Doug McGuff, author of "Body By Science."



Efficient Exercise is officially open! To be one of the first to experience evidence-based exercise in the Kittitas Valley, send an email to matt@efficient-fitness.com or call 425-214-2251 to reserve your free introductory session.