Take Your Workouts to the Next Level

    It’s a brand new year. You’ve been working hard to keep up with your fitness goals and now you’re ready to push yourself a little harder. You know the basics of exercising and you know what health targets are important to you. This article is designed to help you specify your fitness needs and take your workouts to the next level! There are four main styles of exercising: strength training, endurance training, balance, and flexibility. Let’s find out which style best suites your fitness and health needs.

            We’ll start with the most common style of exercise, strength training, also known as resistance or weight training. This includes any exercise that causes the muscles to contract against an external resistance with the expectation of increasing strength, tone, and mass. External resistance can be dumbbells, exercise bands, or even your own body weight. Let’s talk about the effects and benefits of strength training. Looking to tone up certain muscle groups? There is a lifting regimen that will deliver optimal results for any place on the body you can think of. Strength training also strengthens your bones. But one of the most rewarding results of strength training is the self-esteem boost you attain while improving your body image.

Now we will move on to the second most common style of exercise: endurance training. Most athletes and trainers refer to this as cardio, short for cardiovascular, which is a fancy term for exercises dealing with the heart and lungs. Aerobic exercise is another term you may have heard when referring to endurance training. There are many advantages to picking up an endurance training routine. For starters, cardio training can give you more energy throughout the day. Training your body to propel you forward through vigorous workouts helps the body become more efficient, getting more done in less time with more energy.  Endurance athletes tend to have faster metabolisms due to more lean muscle mass. Now you can indulge your sweet tooth a little more without the guilt!

The next style is balance training. Balance is the ability to control the body’s position. It’s not one of the more commonly known styles of exercise, but balance is a key element to fitness. Balance exercises can be performed stationary (participating in yoga) or while in motion (roller skating). This type of training promotes body awareness, which makes your body movements more seamless. It also raises coordination and reaction-time. While reacting to slips or stumbles you learn to quickly correct mistakes and how to re-balance immediately if you’re falling. Another benefit is the increase in agility; the ability to change the direction of the body in an efficient manner.

            The last style of exercise is flexibility training. This style refers to any exercise method that helps the joints and connective tissues achieve a more useful range of motion over time. This might be the most overlooked component of fitness and training, but is still very important because stretching decreases the risk of injury. By improving flexibility, your body requires less energy to make the same movements, thus lessening the likelihood of injuries. Stretching also increases the blood supply to the entire body, delivering essential nutrients through your blood stream, as well as increasing the lubrication fluid for your joints. Flexibility training is a great way to better overall health and vitality. By doing some kind of flexibility training, you will notice less pain, improved movement, reduced muscle soreness, and improved physical performance.

            So which style of exercise is right for you? Most likely it’s a combination of them all! Successful, healthy athletes will typically incorporate many different styles into their weekly workout routines. But, depending on your fitness goals, maybe one style stands out as the one that you will mostly benefit from. Just remember, a healthy lifestyle doesn’t just happen in the gym. Be sure to incorporate healthy eating and sleeping habits as well. The body needs nutrients and hydration, and the body needs rest.

Don’t forget to check out the many different exercise styles offered by the Adult Fit Coaches at Varsity Cheerleading Academy. I’m certain you’ll find a trainer that matches your style!

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