Top 10 Home Workout Program Flaws:
10. The workout program ends leaving you wondering what to do next…
Do you go back through the same 90 day workout program over and over again repeating the same workouts throughout the years? A good fitness program is sustainable and doesn’t take your money and leave you lost after 90 days without building any knowledge or plan for the future. Most people are looking to change their lives in a major way or find a way to stay in shape. Both of these situations calls for a program you can follow 365 days a year. When you start an exercise program and see results in 90 days, you are not finished. You want to continue progressing and learning without taking up your entire life.
9. The workout program does not evolve with time.
The fitness world is changing every day as aspects of fitness programs are tested and proven, your workout program should evolve to incorporate the things that work. CrossFit is doing a great job of sticking its head into all fitness arenas, testing out what works, and incorporating the best aspects of different programs. Your workout program should never be satisfied that it has the final solution and should always be looking to improve itself. If you are going to put forth the time and effort to workout, you should be getting the most out of it. Daily updated workout programs have the flexibility to add concepts in which the fitness world is proving works.
8. The workout program focuses too much on cardio and neglects other necessary areas.
Some workout programs focus almost solely on cardiovascular endurance. Only incorporating cardio in your workout routine actually with decrease you anaerobic capacity. What this means. You will get better at longer time domains, but can actually move backwards in strength, power, and speed, basically, anything that requires short bursts of energy…sports. A good workout program includes a good mixture of aerobic and anaerobic exercises. Anaerobic exercises will also increase your aerobic capacity.
7. You have to be in front of a TV with a DVD player to follow the workout program.
The down sides to this are obvious. You will be restricted in where you can work-out. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to print your workout or take your smartphone wherever you want to perform it? You will have total freedom and convenience. You could workout at home, in the garage, backyard, at the park, in the gym, etc.
6. The workout program does not have any community for support or comparisons.
With fitness DVDs, your only friend is the cheesy instructor on screen. You should be connected to a community of people who have the same interests and goals. It should be filled people you can reach out to for support and motivation and with which you can compare notes. You should be able to get confirmation that you are not alone in your journey to better yourself physically. This also inspires healthy competition which brings along achievement.
5. The program’s workouts are not set-up to compare yourself with the old you.
When following a fitness DVD, the only feedback you get on how well you did that day is how tired you are after. Your workouts should be scored in some way or another. What does this mean? This means, if you do the same workout down the road, you should know definitively if you are improving. Either you did the workout faster, did more repetitions, or moved more weight. Your workout program should give you comparable data that allows you to effectively track your progress. Tracking your weight can be a slippery slope into being dissatisfied and giving up when you are making real progress towards your wellness. Track your performance and everything else will fall into place.
4. The workout program does not include enough variety
There is only one fitness DVD we have found that does include a good amount of variety and it rhymes with Shmee90X;) Most others focus on one aspect of fitness and do not venture outside of that. This creates a lopsided fitness program that leaves a lot of holes and inefficiencies in a person’s fitness. If a workout program sounds like it has a niche, it is, and it neglects important parts of training that will provide an inefficient impact on your fitness. Most “As Seen on TV” workout products fall into this category. These products also lead to boredom and a loss of interest eventually.
3. The workout program does not include enough intensity
Intensity is the secret that is not really a secret. Everyone is looking for the easy way to exercise and the answer is…drumroll please…work hard. Don’t just jog for 30 minutes, but go as far as you can in 30 minutes. Guess why people choose to jog for 30 minutes instead of run sprints for 10 minutes…because it is easier. Guess which one will provide you with greater benefits. The answer everyone knows, but some don’t want to accept is the people who are in great shape, work their butts off to get there. That does not mean they put in hours a day at a gym. That just means, when they are working out, they are putting everything they have in it. Working hard is the key to training efficiently. We love it when people list of 90 different things they did for their work-out that day and tell us how much time they spent acting like the time frame makes their work-out better. We love telling them our workout took 10 minutes and knowing we are in better shape than they are. Intensity is the fastest way to reach your goals, whatever they are and you workout program should include intensity. Be smart, be efficient.
2. The workout program is great at telling you what exercises to do, but not so great at teaching you how to do it properly and how to adjust (scale) it to your fitness level.
Safety is key when working out and being able to perform the movements properly is a huge problem with workout DVDs. They tend to jump from exercise to exercise quickly with little instruction on how to perform the exercise properly. This leaves you susceptible to injuries that can easily be prevented. Workout DVDs leave you on your own to research the exercises and how to do them properly. If you cannot do the required movement properly yet, the DVDs do not typically provide you with how to scale the movement for your fitness level. Your workout program should provide you with information on exactly how to do the movement safely at your fitness level. You should know what exercises are going to be used in the workout that day, how to scale those exercises for your personal needs, and have the resources available to quickly research and learn more about the exercise.
1. The workout program uses exercises that are not functional to life and do not translate into real world activities.
Any exercise that does not transfer over into your life or sport, should be stricken from the book. The goal of exercise is to improve your life. If your ultimate is body composition, weight loss, building lean muscle, etc., your workouts should also prepare you for life. Functional, multi-joint movements and learning how to perform them properly will add so much value to your workout program. Not only will you reach your obvious goals of “looking better and getting healthier,” but you will be preparing strengthening your movement patterns for life. Sitting down on the toilet, couch, or chair is squatting. Learn how to squat properly and life will get easier. Picking up dog food or a box of bottled water from the ground is deadlifting. Learn how to deadlift and you will not throw your back out the next time you have to re-arrange furniture. Work on your mobility and get rid of back pain. Work on things that will make a difference! Ask yourself, does your fitness program prepare you for life?