Simon Caddy Personal Training

Functional Exercise: Get Fitter, Faster

A Sample Functional Training Session Layout

Everyone is always looking for a way to burn more calories, tone here, tighten there, and to generally get their body into the shape they truly want & deserve.

Really there are 2 ways of doing this:

a) the slow, plodding, repetitive way of traditional exercise; or

b) functional training; using the body in ways it was designed to activate more muscle, burn more calories and get real results FASTER.

Which way would you prefer?

If you chose method “a” I cannot argue with you, and if you want me to assist you in this I gladly will.

If you chose method “b” then you have already shown me you are committed to wanting to reach your goals quickly & effectively, and above all you’re willing to work for it.

Allow me to give you some kind of idea what I can do for you to help you see results fast while making your body move as it was intended (trust me, you’ll feel amazing afterwards!)

Take a look at the picture at the top of this page. It was taken today at Caerphilly Leisure Centre after a functional training session a client wanted. We did everything we could think of to work as much of the body as possible for as much of the hour as we could.

“Why?” I hear you ask. Quite simply because I see the formula for fat loss as this:

More Muscle Used At Once

= More Calories Demanded

= Faster Fat Loss

And my client will agree, as she’s lost 9lbs of bodyfat yet got much fitter training this way than she did when we did method “a”.

The picture shows the following 5 pieces of equipment:

1) The TRX
2) The CoreStick
3) The Vipr
4) The VewDo Board
5) Mini Hurdles

Individually these bits of kit are powerful weapons in the fight against fat, but together they are a force to be reckoned with.

Here’s a brief explanation of what they do:

The TRX

Weighing less than two pounds, the TRX delivers greater performance and functionality than large exercise machines costing thousands of dollars. The TRX sets up in seconds so you can get and stay fit at home, the gym or on the road–wherever you want. Thousands of people of all fitness levels now train on the TRX, from professional athletes who need peak performance to everyday people who just want to feel and look their best.

The bottom line: TRX delivers.

TRX^® workouts are fast, effective and powerful. Get a full body workout in as little as 30 minutes.

With the TRX^®, you can move from one exercise to the next in no time, combining strength, flexibility and metabolic training to keep your heart rate up and get an intense total body workout.

TRX^® Suspension Training^® harnesses your bodyweight to create resistance as you train.

TRX^® Suspension Training^® builds core strength with every exercise by creating an element of instability that forces your core to provide balance and coordination.

With over 300 TRX exercises from which to choose, you can work every part of your body.

This ground-breaking training system has been adopted and trusted by the most demanding users including top trainers; pro athletes across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, UFC; physical therapists and all branches of the military. Exercisers of every fitness level can benefit from this highly efficient and effective bodyweight training method.

The CoreStick

The CoreStick’s unique and patent-pending design allows for the muscles of the core to be activated and strengthened in all planes of motion.  Many products on the market isolate the abdominals and allow for just one plane or range of motion to be utilized, but with the CoreStick the variety of movement patterns that can be utilized are nearly endless.  It specifically works by causing the core muscles to “fire” or “react” in response to the movement that is performed.  It causes the muscles to fire “subconsciously” in the same way they work in real life with activities of daily living or during sporting activities.

The Secret to How the CoreStick Works

The mass and momentum that is created with the weighted Power Cores of the CoreStick is what makes this product so effective at strengthening the core muscles.

Due to mass and momentum that occurs because of the CoreStick’s unique design, a simple 2lb. Power Core can have the effect of a 10lb. weight depending on the speed and direction the CoreStick is used in. Thus, you can target the core muscles without fatiguing the arms and shoulders when performing the various exercises.

How the Muscles Work with the CoreStick

The core muscles “react” or “fire” specifically in the Transformational Zone (TZ) of the movement.  These TZs occur whenever there is an abrupt change in direction of the CoreStick.  TZs occur in real life and in all activities.  There is a transformational zone in golf when the golfer finishes the backswing and initiates the downward movement of the club.  The CoreStick can be used safely by starting out with small movements and work into medium and eventually large movement patterns, in order to challenge the muscles to “react” or “fire”.

The Vipr

ViPR comes in rubber tubes in seven weights, from 4-20kg. The beauty of the design lies in its total body application, and ViPR’s complete flexibility: it can be carried, dragged, thrown, flipped, stepped on and rolled; it requires no maintenance, and can be easily stored…pretty much anywhere.

What are the training benefits of ViPR?

ViPR uses the four pillars of human movement: gravity infused, stretch-to-shorten, tri-planar and integrated.

ViPR programming

ViPR is designed to

• provide an effective whole-body workout
• build muscle and burn calories through strength and movement training
• be versatile – it can be lifted, dragged, thrown, stepped on
• be safe as it’s made from rubber
• be suitable for all ages and abilities with weights ranging from 4kg to 20kg

What makes ViPR unique?

ViPR mimics the utility of seven tools: barbell, dumbbell, Kettlebell, stability ball, medicine ball, balance device and speed ladder.

The “Swiss Army knife” programming potential of the tool is exploited in 9,000 currently developed exercises equally adaptable for beginners as for expert and elite users.

ViPR’s safer than steel free weights. It also integrates seamlessly with my existing tools (such as the TRX, benches, steps, hurdles and more).

The VewDo Board

This balance board has such a varied use, here are the “frequently Asked Questions” from www.vewdo.com

What is a balance board? – Used on a dry flat surface, a traditional balance board is a deck, which sits atop of a cylinder (Rock) whereby an individual stands and attempts to balance on the apparatus while spanning the rock in various directions and geometrical planes. Balance Boards are used by riders during the recreational sport of balance boarding and/or for multi-sport training for static (stationary) and dynamic (in motion) balance recovery skills, rehab, injury prevention, physical therapy and most importantly fun!

What are they used for? – Full featured balance boards are used during the sport of Performance Balance Board riding as well as during , sport specific balance and core training, strength and fitness training, plyometrics, rehab, injury prevention and physical therapy and, most importantly fun.

What is Balance Training? – Balance training is training for the ability to recover balance or base of support (BOS) from postural sway (body movement over your BOS) following a destabilizing stimulus caused by objects, self-motion or the environment. In other words, to train for balance recovery.

Who uses a balance board? – Users are comprised of almost every age, gender and physical capability from trainers, coaches, professional and amateur athletes, persons with learning and physical disabilities, the entertainment industry, action/extreme sports enthusiasts, recreational users and others.

What are Vew-do Balance Boards made of? – All Vew-Do balance boards are made in the U.S.A. Our decks are made from zero void maple hardwood or Baltic birch. The rocks are precision turned from a solid piece of hard maple wood and come in a variety of shapes. The sub-decks and rail systems are made of bomb proof High Density Poly Ethylene plastic.

Why Vew-Do over all the other Balance Boards ? – If it isn’t already obvious, we’re going to settle your concerns right now. Vew-Do is the most versatile high-performance, dynamic/static and multi-directional balance board you can buy.

So the VewDo board can be used for balance training…but it can be used to great effect for core training and upper body stabilisation exercises. The possibilities are endless!

Mini Hurdles

These are 10cm high and can be used to run over, step over, jump over, twist over, hop over, move around…pretty much anything you can think of.

Their height is just enough to give you a little work to do but not enough to overstretch you and make the task too difficult. Performance enhancement, whether it’s walking or sprinting after a bus, can and will be improved quickly with these.

Sound Good?

So, can you imagine how your body is going to look, feel and perform after training in such a diverse, powerful and productive way?

You can? Good!

Functional training is about restoring functions and movements back to the body, about creating balance from top to bottom, left to right and front to back. Used correctly it can, and does, boost the performance of the body in everything from walking to the shops to picking things up from the floor, or from your daily job to burning fat.

Functional training is one of the biggest buzz words in the fitness industry today. It is on the minds and lips of many personal trainers, but it is only executed to perfection yielding the best results by a very few of us.

I invested my time, money and effort into learning this skill to make your workouts more effective in less time. Quite simply, you get your results FASTER.

I can’t wait to get you started and help you make that visualisation a reality!