SMART and Trendy too?

Our goal has always been to train SMART; maximizing benefits in a minimal amount of time.  To ensure that we are staying at the forefront of the fitness field, we are continually looking at fitness trends and research to determine whether or not we are offering you the best possible training for your time investment. 

We are often asked by participants, "What do you think about the _____ workout or diet?"  The truth is that many of the new workouts or diets that pop up are of the "here today, gone tomorrow" variety because they are simply fads that are not worth the time or money invested in them.  Even worse than being a waste of time and money, many of these can be considered dangerous.  When we do choose to offer a particular type of training, or decide to tweak a training, it is always based on knowing that the training is safe and that the research supports that it provides results. 





The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is widely recognized for educating and certifying fitness professionals.  With their mission of "advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine" they are probably the mostly commonly used resource for establishing exercise guidelines. 

So we were excited to see ACSM's list of the top ten predicted fitness trends for 2014 and discover that we are way ahead of the predicted trends.

The top ten fitness trends predicted for 2014 are:

1. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): HIIT involves short bursts of activity followed by a short period of rest or recovery, usually performed in less than 30 minutes.

If you are participating in our Warrior Challenges you have been doing HIIT, and our Metabolic Training goes a step beyond HIIT with rest based training which has actually been shown to provide even greater results.

2. Body Weight Training: Body weight training uses minimal equipment and allows people to get "back to the basics" with fitness.

If you have done a Rogue workout with us where we have used body weight only, you know very well that this can be even more challenging than when we use our dumbbells.

3. Educated and Experienced Fitness Professionals.

We have more combined years than we want to admit in the health and fitness field and we strive to pursue continuing education units in areas that will advance our knowledge.

4. Strength Training.  Incorporating strength training is an essential part of a complete physical activity program for all physical activity levels and genders.

Metabolic and TRX Training provide full-body strength workouts.

5. Exercise and Weight Loss. In addition to nutrition, exercise is a key component of a proper weight loss program. 

Metabolic Training is primarily a fat burning exercise program, but when combined with cardio exercise you can achieve significant weight loss as well. 

6. Personal Training.

We cannot emphasize enough that when you sign up for one of our fitness trainings, we become YOUR Personal Trainer. 

7. Fitness Programs for Older Adults. 

If you haven't already done so, take a look around you at your fellow Warriors.  There are no lower or upper age limits.   

8. Functional Fitness. This is a trend toward using strength training to improve balance and ease of daily living.

If you can squat and curl a dumbbell and then press it overhead, you can get out of your car with a bag of groceries. 

9. Group Personal Training. In challenging economic times, many personal trainers are offering more group training options. 

Our trainings are personalized group fitness.
  

10. Yoga. Based on ancient tradition, yoga utilizes a series of specific bodily postures practiced for health and relaxation.

Yo-what?  Okay, 9 out of 10 isn't bad.  And we are not going to say anything bad about yoga but we do believe there are other great ways to maintain flexibility and to relax. 

While being trendy is at the bottom of our list of priorities when putting together a training, it did make us smile when we saw the top ten list.  Maybe yoga should be replaced with wearing teal sweatsuits from Walmart since we can't possibly endorse going back to leg warmers and leotards.