Total Gym

Fitness Wisdom Wednesday: The Mind/Body Connection on Total Gym

I have loved lifting weights to get stronger, look and feel better and enhance my athletic performance since the age of 12. But it wasn’t until I delved deep into my Pilates training that I truly got the most from my resistance training routines – and helped my clients get the most from theirs. You don’t have to be formally trained in Pilates to understand the rewarding principles of focus and concentration.

Here’s an example I use to get my clients into the mind-body realm on Total Gym GTS. Let’s call my client Nathan, and today we’re working on his pushing muscles, starting with the chest. I’ll have him first experience an internal contraction of his chest muscles by simply pressing his hands together vigorously.

• Nathan’s goal is to hit his level of fatigue between 8 and 12 reps.
• He is doing a seated forward chest press on the GTS at level 6 to achieve his goal. He has done one set properly and is stretching his chest while recovering between sets.
• For the next set, I’ll take the GTS down to level 5 and Nathan’s goal is to get the same results with intense focus on the mind-body connection.
• I’ll have Nathan close his eyes and as his arms go back on the eccentric phase, I’ll have him visualize the pectoral muscle lengthening with control. I’ll ask him to feel his core stabilizing his torso like an anchor, allowing his strong chest muscles to do their work.
• Before he starts the concentric phase, Nathan will engage his core a little more and start his exhalation – breathing is very important in Pilates.
• As he continues this phase, he will activate his core throughout his exhalation and then at the peak contraction of his pecs he will internally squeeze the chest muscles and hold about a second, then release.

This kind of mind-body discipline is at the heart of Joseph Pilate’s philosophy of training the body. As a guy, I surely don’t mind the ratio, but it is disappointing that 95% or more of my Pilates class students and clients are women. Joseph Pilates was a body builder himself and he developed his wonderful Pilates discipline working with men. Studies have shown that when male body builders dropped their weight to about 80% of what they could actually lift and focused intently on the mind-body connection, they achieved better muscle development. Unfortunately for us guys, the gals seem to be the smart ones  when it comes to mind-body discipline.

Resistance training is like anything else in life:  If you stay present and focused during each set, you will get a better return on your workout. Use the versatility and ease of changing the level of your Total Gym to challenge you and your clients’ mental focus to achieve a new level of results. Practice the simple, yet hard to live-by, principle of “living in the present” to make your workout a moving meditation with proper focus.

Namaste’

JayDee Cutting is a GRAVITY Master Trainer, certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor. Feel free to contact JayDee at CuttingEdgeWellness@san.rr.com or check out www.NiceDogYoga.com. JayDee’s CoreGolf Fitness DVD is due out this fall.