“Develop your body as a weapon”
-Frank Shamrock
Here Frank Shamrock gives newcomers some overall philosophical advice and then specific training exercises. Aside from building up your cardio and helping you lose weight, these exercises also work the muscles you use in MMA.
We all want to be a little more in shape than we are and it can be tempting to simply join a gym, try out the different types of equipment and then trust ourselves to go on a regular basis and to use the equipment responsibly and slowly while our muscles build up.
It can be very tempting to do that.
Personal trainers provide guided, organized thinking on when, where, how and for what duration physical fitness should be exercised.
If you are a naturally ambitious and focused person, then you can easily overdo it at the gym if you are not watching yourself. There is a reason why all trainers encourage their clients to start out with seemingly easy tasks.
The physical body needs to be exercised and trained in a way that it can handle, gradually, over time, a little bit at a time. Start out small and only step your routine once every two weeks. Try out a variety of small, easy and simple exercises to make sure that your body is being “trained” not “beaten into submission.” A personal trainer can lay the foundation and groundwork for you.
Obviously, your fitness goals are very important and should be set and followed. A personal trainer can make sure this happens, but with the proper breaks, rest periods, downtime, and with a gradual progression of muscle building and lean muscle training.
Fat burning involves cardio work. A personal trainer can set you up with a cardio routine that will not push your heart too far and will gradually build its strength so that you can take a little more cardio later on.
Your trainer will also make sure that whatever cardio you are doing is not having a detrimental effect on your joints and is not putting you into an “exhausted” state after a workout. Your goal is to feel a little tired, more fit, stronger, and ready to go home and rest and take on more exercise tomorrow or the next day.
Whether your goal is fat burning or muscle building or both, your trainer can set up a routine that will actually take care of all of your needs without wasting time and energy on exercises which are not specifically moving you toward your goal.
Another reason a personal trainer is so great is that they work specifically on your body to make sure that you are keeping your routine balanced. If your goal is to build up your lower body, a personal trainer can include small amounts of upper body strength training in your schedule to make sure things are kept balanced.
If your goal is to lose a lot of fat, your carefully guiding personal trainer can make sure that a well-balanced set of strength training is infused with all of your cardio work. Not everybody can make a carefully guided plan, stick with it, and not go overboard or underboard. A trainer can keep you in excellent condition while also slowly and effectively moving you in the direction you need to go.
In the end, your needs and desires are most important. Your body is an amazingly constructed organism and you will need to treat it with respect and kindness. Getting a personal trainer can make sure that your body is guided easily and carefully down the road to health, not given too intensive or too aggressive of a treatment. Happy Exercising and Remember to Drink Lots of Water!
And on a lighter note, here are some personal trainer fails!