During my Vancouver boot camp workouts, I often explain to my participants exactly why my outdoor workouts are superior to exercising at a traditional health club.
There are a lot of things that are wrong with traditional health clubs, but the number one problem with health clubs is that they are loaded with equipment that encourages people to sit on their butts while they workout:
- Seated row
- Seated chest press
- Seated chest fly
- Seated leg extension
- Seated leg curl
- Seated shoulder press
- The list goes on, and on, and on, and on….
Most people already sit down enough during the day. The last thing they need is to sit down for the majority of their workout. So rather than exercising at a gym using all the latest equipment that lets you sit down while you workout, you should focus on staying on your feet during your workout.
Contrast the previous list with superior total-body exercises:
- Instead of seated row, do a standing row with resistance tubing, or a squat plus a row using resistance tubing (these are called hybrid exercises, or exercise complexes), or perhaps an inverted bodyweight row using the TRX Suspension Trainer.
- Instead of seated chest press, do pushups, or take it to the next level with decline pushups (i.e. feet elevated on a bench), or a challenging TRX chest press.
- For seated chest fly, substitute standing fly using resistance tubing, do the fly standing and with only one arm at a time to remove the counterbalance and force your body to stabilize, or perhaps better yet avoid doing chest isolation exercises in favour of more effective compound exercises.
- For leg extension and leg curl, avoid those isolation exercises entirely and do standing compound leg exercises such as squats, lunges, reverse lunges, side lunges, and deadlifts.
- For shoulder press, perform the exercise standing, and do the exercise one arm at a time for increased instability and a greater core workout.
The best way to get in shape is by performing multi-joint, multi-muscle, compound exercises, and none of those exercises involve sitting on your butt while you workout.
For more examples of effective total-body exercises that don’t involve sitting on your butt while you workout, and therefore work more muscles and produce better and faster results, check out my resistance band workout program.
