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Modern gyms are amazing places full of state of the art training equipment designed to work each and every one of your muscles safely and effectively. Then you have all the free weights, cardio equipment, group exercise studios and, of course, the certified personal trainers. Most if not all of these now common fitness fixtures are relatively new developments because until around 40 years ago, fitness was not even an industry as such and modern equipment-packed mega-gyms didn’t exist! So what did people do for exercise? A few lifted weights but generally as a means to getting stronger for sport, and others ran for health and fitness, however, the vast majority did calisthenics; that’s body weight exercises to you and me! Derived from the Greek for beauty and health, calisthenics involve movements that many so-called experts commonly deride as being beginner exercises such as push-ups, lunges, squats, sit-ups and pull-ups. Physical education in schools, colleges and even the armed forces was based around these basic movements for many years but, as is often the way, things got more complicated and these simple but effective movements were replaced by fancy exercise machines and expensive, if pointless, gadgets. Basically, the work part of working out all but disappeared. This is a huge shame as body weight exercises are a great way to get in shape, stay in shape and develop amazing levels of fitness, strength and health with little more than a place to do pull-ups and an exercise mat. You really don’t need much more than that once you realize that you are your own gym! The thing that many certified personal trainers fail to realize is that your muscles don’t know anything other than tension. Whether you use a $100,000 state of the art chest press machine or are performing the humble push-up, all your muscles know is that you are asking them to overcome a resistance and they do that by generating tension. Your muscles don’t discriminate against lowly body weight exercises so why should you? When it comes to exercise and working out, one of the most common excuses for non-participation is “I haven’t got time”. Time is a valuable commodity for sure but if you eliminate traveling to the gym, chatting with your buds in the locker room, gossiping at the water cooler between sets, waiting for your turn on the pec deck and then showering and commuting back home, you’ll suddenly find you have lots more time for exercise than you realized. As well as being very convenient, low cost and readily accessible, body weight training is also more natural than a great many more traditional exercises such as leg presses and lat pull downs. Think about it; in most natural movements, you use your muscles to move you through space. Pull-ups, push-ups, lunges and squats are perfect examples of this. In contrast, most state of the art certified personal trainer approved resistance machines do the opposite – they fix you in place and it’s the load that moves. This change actually takes a lot away from the exercise and reduces the amount of neural involvement in the exercise. Neural involvement simply means the degree of nervous system involvement in a given exercise and more will result in improved balance, stability, coordination and basic body awareness – called proprioception. You don’t get that doing leg curls I promise you! It’s sad that so many certified personal trainers have all but turned their backs on traditional calisthenic exercises because as well as dismissing exercises that have a historical place in the fitness industry, in the pursuit of “scientific” training methods, their choice of exercises has become, in many cases, less and not more effective. Body culturists of old knew the value of body weight training; they knew that their body was a walking gym ready for action 24/7. Why not follow in their well worn and very fit footsteps by giving body weight training a go – if nothing else, calisthenics make for a great addition to your regular workout or an ideal way to sneak an extra workout at home. Author Bio: Mark Darco is a professional personal trainer with 15 years experience and has worked with hundreds of clients. He has successfully completed multiple certifications and continues to provide fitness training to clients of all ages in the NYC area.
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