Strength AND CONDITIONING

Over the past year the phrase “strength and conditioning” has become lingo that you will see being splashed across your TV in sportswear commercials and behind personal trainers names in your local gym.

This blog’s purpose is to explain the second part of that phrase - Conditioning. Most people at this stage know what strength training entails and in the land of personal training, especially in the big box gyms, it has become the exercise regime of choice for clientele of all kind.  Strength training must be an absolute staple in everyone’s fitness routine in order to work towards people’s goals but it cannot be the sole approach used. The aspect that is often missing in many people’s and trainer’s approach with their clients is a legitimate conditioning program.

The way we want you to look at conditioning simply put is “Being in shape”. Conditioning requires nothing but hard work. Hard work requires no talent or special skills. Therefore, no legitimate excuse can be made to not at least make an attempt at an aspect of fitness that will ultimately make you more athletic, decrease body fat, bring a lower resting heart rate, and make you feel overall more fit.

How do you sleep at night after running stairs for an hour compared to going back and forth between the bench press and lat pull down multiple times with 2 minutes rest in between? At the end of the day, do you want to be that person who can squat the equivalent of a small car but who is unable to run that charity 5 Km event?  We didn’t think so.

SO, that being said, getting conditioned requires minimal equipment but it does require effort and motivation.  Find a local hill; run up, walk or jog down and repeat x 10. Simple enough. Run the stairs in your condo building top to bottom a few times. Buy a skipping rope and skip for 10 minutes. You will sweat, feel more coordinated and be warmed up for your strength training.

A balanced exercise plan should address all facets of fitness. Make an attempt to make yours a true strength AND conditioning program.

**Please consult your health care provider before following any advice on this blog.