Boo-tique

     A new gym opened down the street. You’ve seen the commercials.  You know some people that have joined.  Everyone posts their super sweaty pictures after their workouts, the instructors are ripped, and it guarantees results so you’re thinking of joining.  Why not, right?  You’ve “tried everything” before, and this looks interesting.  So you join.  You go gung-ho, almost every day you’re in there, you are sore and hurt but no pain no gain, right?  You see results in the first month!  A little bit more in the second month.  Your joints hurt, and by the third month you don’t see a lot of the same people who were there when you started, and you don’t see any more results.  But why?  You’re doing everything they tell you to.  You’re coming to the gym all the time, sweating a lot while you’re there, and sore all the time WHY ARE YOU NOT SEEING ANY MORE RESULTS???

     The boutique gym craze isn’t a new fad, only the workouts are new.  Someone is constantly thinking they’re reinventing the wheel in fitness, and rarely are they ever correct.  Remember calisthenics in the 60’s?  Dance aerobics of the 70’s?  Jazzercize of the 80’s?  Tae Bo of the 90s?  And so on… The problem with all of these is that it’s the same style of exercise every day, and you’re body stops responding to the stressors.  Also, they do not include everything needed for physical health- resistance training, cardio, and range of motion.  Sure, some of the new boutique styles of fitness offer weights- but there are science-backed rep and set schemes that actually work.  Everything outside of that is just extra work on the joints.  There’s very little purpose in doing something “as many times as you can” or do this same set for 3 minutes.  Also, this promotes poor form and runs the risk of injury.  With little to no structure, the workouts don’t separate out muscle groups, resistance days, cardio days, or any discernable splits.  The use the same joints and muscle groups day after day, do not follow any proven principle of exercise, and most people will become injured within a few months.

      Many of these forms of fitness also promote high intensity constantly, or reward for higher heart rates. This is detrimental to your workout and body because of the concept of anabolism vs catabolism.  Anabolism is “constructive metabolism” or breaking down stored or free energy in the body and promote growth and health.  Catabolism is destructive metabolism and happens when we are in too high of a heart rate zone for too long or perform high intensity exercise too frequently.  Our heart rate should only be in it’s highest zones for a maximum of 30% of your workout, and high intensity work should be performed no more than three times a week.  The phrase no pain no gain is in fact harmful. Lifting weights while on a bicycle doesn’t mean its good resistance training. Angrily humping the ground with the form of a fish on a dry dock so you can get out as many burpees as you can before you throw up does not a good workout make. Many of these gyms don’t even require any certifications to work there.  I know, I’ve worked at them.  With no schooling and no certifications do you really trust these people with your health and wellness?

     When choosing a gym or a fitness routine, it is important to be scrutinous.  Ask for the qualifications of your instructors, ask what theory of fitness they base their routines on, ask what results you can expect and if it sounds too good to be true it is.  It is best to choose a gym that offers many things.  Free weights for your resistance days, cardio equipment or classes for your cardio days, certified trainers so you can learn how to exercise properly for a lifetime of fitness and not just three months of pain and then you’re back where you started.  Learn why you are performing the rep and set schemes they are programming, ask what should be done for homework, ask how the workouts are fulfilling the needs for physical fitness set by the certifying agencies like ACSM or NASM.  Ask the instructors that you want to look like if they do these workouts their self- most don’t actually or do supplemental resistance training to have the physique they do but they’d never advertise that. Make sure that you are getting the best for yourself and your money.  Remember things like just because you’re sweating doesn’t mean you’re getting a good workout, being sore for days isn’t healthy, the same workout is NEVER fine for everyone, structure is important, and the trainers should be able to explain things like energy pathways, give scales for modifications, suggest how to prevent injury, and so on.  And if they don’t I can bet they’ll soon be gone, gone the way of jazzercise.