In previous blogs, we have discussed what the term Optimum Human Performance means and we’ve discussed tips to get yourself training at an optimum level, so today, we want to touch on what that looks like in the gym.
The order of your workout is just as important as the workout itself. A THP workout is created to take the principles, methods and strategies of individual movements and make them come to life in a specific order.
We are going to break it down for you to digest, understand and take action on.
The Warm Up
The purpose of a warm-up is to increase blood flow and raise the core temperature of the body. This part of your workout will get your muscles ready, and studies show that during a warmup, blood flow to skeletal muscles increases by 70% and the increase of body temperature will produce more oxygen in your blood. More blood flow to muscles and higher oxygen production means a better performance in your workout!
Over time, the warm up will go from a conscious thought of movement to a subconscious thought to an automatic thought, meaning your body will adapt and be able to move through without as much intent. This benefits us greatly because it becomes a movement screen every single time you do it. Individually, we can take notice of when a movement may feel different than it did the last time and catch a warning light early.
Movement Development
All right, the body is warm and moving well so now we add new levels! This is the time where we will be guiding you in new techniques and procedures. Teaching you how to accelerate and decelerate movements and develop your body to adjust to those changes effectively. This portion of your workout will aim to reestablish the connections between your brain and your nerves to ensure everything is firing correctly.
Strength Set
We use different days to hit different muscles, so you will very likely not train every muscle every single day. With that fluctuation, we keep daily consistency with the Three R’s of Strength.
- Reset We work to reset the central nervous system and realign the body. We also focus on mobility and where it should continue or stop.
- Repattern We target your specific movement patterns and challenge them.
- Reload We take those healthy patterns and add weight or load.
Some practical ways we use the Three R’s is by changing the method in the strength set. We can take a motion and change the time and retention, creating an eccentric movement, which will build muscle. For example, using a barbell and raising for one second, holding at the top for one second, lowering down for two seconds and holding at the bottom for one second. Slowing down the movement will build precision and that will benefit all aspects of your training.
Strength is the secret to longevity, having a great quality of movement and being active for life!
Metabolic Conditioning Point
Like we said in the Warm Up section, we need cardiovascular function to get that healthy oxygen to rebuild your muscles and that is how we end our THP workouts. We use this metabolic conditioning portion to support the force that was delivered in the strength section.
We use both aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is movement with a lot of oxygen and not using max intensity. Anaerobic exercise is very intense, quick bursts for a short duration. Both will help you burn fat long after your workout is over and increase endurance and that is the ultimate goal.
At THP, we want you to come in feeling good and leave feeling great!
We’ll see you in the gym!
