If you exercise regularly, how do you decide which ones to do in your workouts?

If you're like most fitness enthusiasts then you are most likely following a workout program featuring exercises that focus on individual muscle groups or bodyparts. This approach to fitness comes from bodybuilders who use muscle isolation exercises like biceps curls or leg extensions in an effort to promote the highest level of growth and definition. 

The ViPR was designed specifically to focus on movement-based workouts.

 

Hypertrophy is the technical term for muscle growth; exercise programs where the goal is improving hypertrophy should focus on muscle isolation exercises because they can be the most effective way to initiate the metabolic or mechanical stimuli necessary to promote muscle growth. However, if you only have a limited time for exercise you are better off following an exercise program that focuses on using movement patterns as opposed to exercises designed to isolate a muscle.

Here's some food for thought:

The only time a muscle works in isolation is in a machine designed for muscle isolation. Any other time you move numerous muscles are working together to produce and control the forces necessary to perform specific movement patterns.

Our brains are hard-wired to focus on learning the most effective movement patterns that can provide our daily needs for food, shelter, companionship or physical security. When creating a movement our brain and nervous system will engage a number of muscles simultaneously to execute the pattern.

Performing a movement-based exercise program that focuses on using patterns instead of muscle isolation exercises can help improve overall levels of strength, reduce the risk of injury from overuse and increase caloric expenditure (allowing you to burn more calories in less time). Today's All About Fitness Quick Fit Tip focuses on the differences between isolation and movement training and why you should be doing the latter and skipping the former. The most important benefit is that anytime you engage more muscles in an activity you can increase the level of energy expenditure.

Moving a weight through space is an effective way to increase total body strength.

 

Blogs I've written about the benefits of movement-based exercise:

ACE Blog: Training Movement, Not Muscles

ACE Blog: Training Movement, Not Muscles, part II

ACE article: Loaded Movement Training

 

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