Here at TotalThriver, we’re always emphasizing bodyweight exercises and barbell lifts. Why don’t we ever suggest using those machines that fill the typical “fitness center?” In today’s post, we’ll take a look at where these recommendations come from.
What Are You Aiming At?
Why did you first decide to adopt a fitness regimen? To look better? To be able to climb a flight of stairs without getting winded? Or perhaps to improve your performance in your favorite sport? The great thing about bodyweight workouts and free weight workouts is that they are ideal for every one of these things. The fundamental reason for this is that when you lift your bodyweight or pick up a barbell with correct form, you’re using your body as a complete system, with each muscle automatically being used in proportion to how your body was designed to function.
Avoid Huge Biceps and Tiny Calves
Not surprisingly, by training your body in this way, you’ll naturally develop a proportional look. Unlike in bodybuilding, where you isolate muscles using machines and pulleys, a bodyweight and free weight regimen involves compound lifts. For example, to take a barbell from the ground to your chest, then up over your head, you must use your calves, hamstrings, quads, abs, back, chest and shoulders. By doing this lift within a circuit, as recommended in the ThriveFit program, you’ll also challenge your heart and lungs. Over time, this will build you into a versatile and proportional athlete, capable of physical feats you won’t believe.
Move Your Friend’s Piano
In addition to working large muscle groups proportionally, bodyweight and free weight lifting strengthens all the small stabilizers throughout your body. For example, in the “press,” you take a barbell in the standing position, and push it up over your head. This movement not only strengthens the entire shoulder and upper pectoral muscles, but in order to control and balance the weight throughout the lift, your entire core needs to be engaged, along with the traps and small muscles in the neck and upper back. Over time, this will strengthen your entire body as a system, not only making you capable of moving more weight easier, but helping you avoid injury as well.
Getting Cut
The final benefit we’ll discuss today relates to fat reduction. One common reason for exercising is to trim down and get a leaner look. A regimen like ThriveFit is ideal for fat burning, because compound lifts like clean and jerks or pull-ups recruit lots of energy from the large muscle groups involved. Not only does this burn large amounts of calories during the workout, but as your body recovers post-workout, it will consume a great deal of energy rebuilding your muscles after the workout. And with stronger muscles, your body will need more calories in the days and weeks to come simply to operate your now-stronger muscles. Keep the same diet (don’t increase calorie intake) and you’ll quickly develop a significant calorie deficit, leading to a lower body fat percentage and a great lean look.
Start Today!
Of course, there are a great many more benefits to a high-intensity bodyweight and barbell training regimen than the few I’ve outlined today, but these will give you a good idea of some of the great benefits available to you through ThriveFit. As with nearly everything we suggest around here, you can give this a try for yourself and take note of what happens! I’m confident that if you dive in and stick with the program, you’ll quickly find the truth of these claims. Enjoy your healthier and fitter life! 🙂