I had a great discussion with my client on Monday on how we often narrow and limit our training approach unconsciuously when we have a specific goal in mind. We talked how focusing on the goals is essential but without a balanced plan we might drift away from an optimal approach.Example 1: Mrs. Smith has a goal of getting rid extra fat around the mid section. She has really decided to focus on that. So, she decides to do 95 crunches every day, walk on the treadmill and stop eating mashed potatoes and bread.
Example 2: Mr. Jones wants to lose weight. He is feeling unhealthy and is already overweight. He decides to weigh himself every morning and make decisions about eating and exercise throughout the day based on the number on the scale. When he is frustrated with the non-changing weight, he either does not eat the whole day or stops caring and eats anything. He might also go to the gym and exercise impulsively and aggressively until he is sure he burned at least the amount of fat he was expecting to lose.
Well, Mrs. Smith has a good start but she will not get to her goals because of her narrow and ineffective choices of exercise. She most likely does not burn enough calories with the chosen exercises to really make a difference. She also chose crunches with hopes of burning fat around the mid-section. However, the crunch will not do anything for the fat around the mid-section but it can also contribute to unhealthy imbalances in posture. Mrs. Smith should at least have a strength component and functional exercise component in her routine to make it more well rounded.
Mr. Jones has created a situation where his emotions are in control over his daily decisions and the scale determines how good he feels about himself. The scale has become too important and causes him to get off track emotionally and physically. He needs a long-term plan and a system that will progress him gradually with his weight. He needs to look weeks and months ahead and stick to the routine. He should probably not get on the scale more than maybe once in two weeks.
Here is the thing I have found more and more as I train my clients. By making the training too narrowly focused, I might not help them reaching the goal at all. Optimal health including healthy weight loss, is always an outcome of balanced approach. The body requires multidimensional stimulations to function at its best. If the goal is weight loss, components such as balance, coordination, power, flexibility or aerobic power can still be very important parts of the program and they might just provide the breakthrough in getting to the goal.
Anyway, I feel that no matter what the goal, a multidimensional approach will always be the most effective. Of course the ratio of different components should change to compliment the goal but we often remove those elements entirely that don't SEEM to have anything to do with the goal.
Good job if you read the whole thing! Have a great day!
Tommi
PS:"Our dream, when pursued, is the most likely predictor of our future." John Maxwell.
