Everything You Need To Know About Our Fitness Programs
Unit 13 Fitness Programs
And Why They Work
The wellness industry today is worth $4.2 Trillion. Can you imagine how many workout programs that is? How many weight loss pills, schemes, plans, books, diets that are being sold on a daily basis?
Today you have more access to weight loss/ fitness programs than ever before. While we may not be short of quantity, we are definitely starved of quality.
Everywhere you look someone is trying to sell you on their magic formula that will guarantee results. Although there is a lot of amazing programs out there, the flashy, big budget companies are making it harder and harder for people to identify which program actually works.
It takes a lot of skill to design a fitness program. It takes time to analyse where you are at, to personalise a program to suit your specific needs and to keep tweaking it as you improve. It takes dedication and year’s worth of study.
If fat loss is a goal you already know you need to sweat, you need to move, but before you jump into a program that gets your heart pumping, you must first ask, can I move safely? Are you strong enough in the essential joints to handle the volume they prescribe?
These are the questions most programs fail to ask.
Most exercises in fitness programs today are far too complicated for the average person to perform.
Squatting, for example, requires a combination of strength, flexibility and mobility that most people overlook. Performing a squat without the correct technique will not only fail to build any muscle, it can also cause severe knee or hip injuries.
That’s why at Unit 13 getting the person fit and well is our biggest priority.
What Makes Our Programs Different?
There is no point going straight into complicated strength programs if you don’t have the foundations set it place to perform the movements efficiently. If you want to get stronger you need to be able to move, if you want to move you need to get strong.
How does a baby learn how to do a barbell squat with 50 kilos on their back?
They first learn how to crawl. They learn to walk, run, skip, jump, bound and change direction – it’s called agility balance and coordination. As people get older they lose that, because they’re not moving. So they need to go back to absolute basics.
Level One - Movement
Movement is an individual who has lost multi joint coordination and may not have awareness on how to contract an individual muscle group. Therefore they need to get used to single joint strength work and conditioning.
This program focuses on injury prevention. Is the body functioning properly, can they move from A to B, can they complete a 30 minute walk for an extra 3 days a week?
It’s about making sure the client has the strength and mobility to move well and optimise their performance.
The ultimate goal for Unit 13 is to have every member working at the optimal strength. However, if people can’t touch their toes or put their hands over their heads, there’s no point getting them strong in that range of motion.
You need to focus on things like hip mobility and hip stability. You can’t open up a joint or stretch a muscle, then expect that muscle to stay elongated if you don’t lengthen the muscle, elongate it and put strength on top of that.
If you’re oiling the hinge of a door and now the hinge moves well, you want to make sure those screws are screwed in tight while it moves well so it keeps functioning.
Once the client becomes comfortable with these movements they then move onto our fitness program.
Level Two - Fitness
Fitness is a multi joint approach. In this they learn how to bend, load their hinge, hamstrings, gluteus and upper back when doing a deadlift and how to coordinate those individual joints together.
They learn the basics of squatting patterns, a movement that uses every muscle in the body. In order to perform this movement efficiently and avoid injury it is important to build strength, balance, mobility and stability. If any of the prime muscles such as hips, knees, ankles or feet are problematic, this will affect the client’s ability to perform a squat.
We also include more joint variations into the program as they have a greater awareness of coordination, movement and body position.
Level Three - Functional Strength
This is for the individual who has plateaued on the fitness program and needs a higher intensity of exercise. So you start integrating compound lifts – squat, bench, deadlift, press, while managing volume and intensity (weight).
This is also for the busy individual as your managing volume and intensity to keep the body healthy. They may only get 6 hours sleep, stressed in work and may only be able to allocate 3 hours training max per week.
For those people who can dedicate more time per week to their workout, along with more sleep each night, we offer the Strength program.
Level Four – Strength
Strength is squat, bench, deadlift and press at a higher volume. This is for people who have the time to train harder AND recover harder. Maybe their job isn’t as intense, they have more spare time each week or they work in the fitness industry. They have the time to be able to push their body more.
Summary
There is a lot of advice online about how to design a program, but the best way to save time and get the results you desire is to pay for an expert. Not an online program, where the trainer can’t see you performing the exercises. Someone who can be with you and show you proper technique because while it might feel your squatting, lunging or even doing a sit up correctly, there’s a strong chance your not. Wouldn’t you like to save yourself months from doing the exercise wrong?
Hiring an expert will not only hold you accountable each week, but you will learn things about your body you would never discover training on your own.