Subscribe To This Site
The Best Workout Routines. Forget the Hype. Our Review of Proven ProgramsI've literally tried dozens of fitness programs, workout routines, and workout equipment over the years; some I tried as a competitive athlete and some I tried just to improve general fitness. After searching far and wide, I've finally found three that deliver superior results, and I recommend them in this order: 1) Crossfit 2) The Monkey Bar Gym 3) P90X All three of these workout routines deliver excellent results and, in particular, build functional fitness. What is functional fitness? Functional fitness builds coordinated strength and stamina to help you effectively perform numerous physical movements required in daily life, athletics, and emergency situations. These movements include lifting, pushing, pulling, throwing, running, punching. . . Building functional fitness will help you in every sport you play.  But, it will also help you enjoy your daily activities more. For example, the fitter you are, the better you can: • Pick up your 5 year old daughter without back pain • Go hiking without being too sore to walk for a week afterwards • Put a heavy box on a top shelf • Rake the leaves for several hours without breaking a sweat • And a million others What would you do in your life if you were more fit and healthy? Functional fitness might even help you in an emergency situation. For example, if your car breaks down in the country and you have to hike 10 miles to safety. . .or if you need to carry someone out of a burning building. Having truly functional fitness may save your life or someone else's. (Years of bicep curls in the mirror probably won't help you here.) • Gymnastics (pull ups, dips, handstands, ring work) • Olympic lifting and Power Lifting (i.e. using barbells with round rubber weights on the end) • Plyometrics (i.e. jumping exercises) • Kettlebells (these look like canon balls with handles) • Dumbbell Exercises • Rowing • Running • Jump-roping • Rope Climbing • Other Body Weight Exercises (such as squats, lunges, and burpees) • Medicine Ball Throwing (using a 12-20 lb medicine ball) • Exercises Drawn from Daily Life (using a sledge hammer, flipping tires, etc.) What is a full Crossfit workout like? Well that depends. Every day at Crossfit is different, because you train for the "unknown and unknowable." The great benefit is that it always keeps your body guessing, and therefore improving. Variance is a key component of Crossfit. (Also, this makes it infinitely more enjoyable than doing the same stale workout routine of curls, chest press, shoulder press, etc over and over and over. . .) Most workouts involve 2 to 3 exercises done in a circuit several times. And, you do each exercise for time. By timing each workout, Crossfit pushes you to continually push yourself. Here's a sample workout: Sample Workout: Three Rounds for Time
 Overheat squats  Kettle bell swings  Wall balls (Squat down, stand up, and throw a 20 lb medicine ball to a 10-foot mark on the wall. Then catch it and repeat.)  Head stand pushups (Do a headstand against a wall and do a pushup to get your head to the ground.) Once you finish the circuit, repeat 2 more times and time yourself! Note that all of these exercises can be scaled back, depending on your level of fitness. For example, do squats with no weight. Or use a light kettlebell. Or use a very light medecine ball. Or substitute regular pushups for headstand pushups. . .and on on and on. There are many many ways to scale each workout. I'd like to note, however, that somes you'll do shorter workouts. For example, some days the workout will be to perform several sets of your 1 rep max squat. (That means squat with as much weight as you can once. Then put the weight down. The do this a few more times.) The workouts vary greatly day-by-day. So, you may focus some days on lifting, some on rowing, some on pull-ups and push-ups, and some doing all three. You will build great fitness in a variety of areas and this will improve your overall fitness and, ironically, your performance in specific areas. For example, even though you are not running 2 miles every day, your 2 mile run time will dramatically improve as your overall fitness improves. In fact, Crossfit is so effective at building overall fitness that it is the training program of choice for many US Military personnel, police offers, and firefighters. These brave men and women frequently do not know what kind of tough situations they will encounter, so the Crossfit regimen - which trains for you for the "unknown and unknowable - provides the serious conditioning they need to perform under varied and strenuous situations. That said, Don't think that crossfit is just for hardcore fitness people. Again, all aspects of Crossfit can be scaled to suit any fitness level. You do this by decreasing the weight, doing fewer reps, cutting out a set, or substituting a movement. For example, if you can't lift the barbell, you may do the exercise with a broom or PVC pipe. If you can't run 200 meters, you may walk it. In Crossfit you can push yourself as hard as you want to. The final thing I love about this workout routine is that the workouts are done in a group setting. There are Crossfit gyms located across the US (and the world now) and the workouts usually take place 7 or 8 times a day (morning, noon, and evening) and each workout has a crossfit trainer to help you with the movements. (This is very different from a normal gym where you just walk in and do your thing, alone.) You develop great friendships with the people in your normal class, and you are able to challenge and support each other along the way.  Having fun jumping on and off a 2-foot tall tractor tire... So how do you get started? To begin, visit the Crossfit main site. Go to the "How to Start" tab for introductory information, articles, and exercise demonstration videos, as well as links to find a Crossfit affiliate gym near you. And, be sure to check out the Crossfit Journal. This is a gold mine of the best fitness information on the planet. The membership is $25 per year and it is well-worth it; there are tons of articles, podcasts, and videos from leading fitness experts on all matters relating to fitness. If you decide to start Crossfit, please heed this one warning: Because Crossfit produces seriously fit people, some Crossfit people are extremely intense. Be sure to talk to the trainers at the gym about your goals and the type of results you'd like to get, and discuss how they would accommodate your fitness level. And, if you start, RESPECT YOUR LIMITS and LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. Start slow and build up. And, no matter what your trainer says, if you do not feel comfortable with the exercises or the amount of weight, DO NOT DO IT. Just refuse and find a suitable alternative. You know your body. And, in the long run, getting injured and becoming discouraged will not help you in your overall fitness journey. So, in sum: Pros: Varied, functional fitness routine. Never gets boring. Produces phenomenal results in your daily activities, sports, and emergency situations. Great coaches and great community. Con: Some people start with too much intensity. Remember to start slow and respect your limits. Second Place: Monkey Bar Gym  My second favorite workout routine is the Monkey Bar Gym. These workouts are based on their website, although they have a physical gym location in Madison, Wisconsin. I did the Monkey Bar Gym before Crossfit, and I throw it in every now and then in a pinch when I'm traveling. The Monkey Bar gym workout routine is similar to Crossfit because it focuses on building functional fitness. The difference, however, is that the Monkey Bar gym focuses more on body weight activities (various types of pushups, pull ups, squats) and you receive more of a cardio workout. These workouts usually have higher numbers of reps and last longer (20 to 30 minutes), while Crossfit workouts can be more intense but last only 5-20 minutes. Here are a few typical monkey bar gym activities:  More kinds of pushups than you could ever imagine  Jumping exercises  Crawling This is called the bear crawl. It's a lot harder than it looks. In my mind, the pros for the Monkey Bar Gym is that it's a great way to move away from traditional boring weight-room workout routines and mix it up. The functional fitness exercises you do will impact your sense of balance and well-being immediately. The cons I see experienced in the Monkey Bar Gym: • Solo: Unlike Crossfit, there is only one Monkey Bar Gym location. I'm sure the actual gym in Madison, Wisconsin is a great place. But, doing the workouts from the website solo gets a little boring. • Hard on the Ligaments/Joints: Although Crossfit is more intense, I found the Monkey Bar Gym harder on the body. Because you're doing body-weight exercises, you have to do a lot of them. In a workout you may do hundreds of pushups; this gets extremely repetitive after a while and puts strain on joints and ligaments. All in all, however, I think it's a great system, and definitely worth investigating. Click here to visit the Monkey Bar Gym website. Third Place: P90X  Have you ever been up at 3 am and seen a commercial for the P90X workout routine? That's how I found out about it. When I saw P90X workout routine commercial I thought it was just another "lose-weight and get abs quick" scam. I saw the commercials several more times, however, and then begin doing research online. It appeared to have very positive user reviews, so I decided to give it a try. When it arrived, I was actually quite impressed. It is a well-laid out functional fitness program, which came with a set of 10 DVDs and a nutrition plan as well. I did the program for several months and I must say - it really does produce great results in terms of overall strength, wellness, and physique. Believe it or not, it actually works. The program uses the same principles as Crossfit - variance - so it combines many types of exercises and it mixes up the workout routine. The exercises include light weightlifting, body weight exercises, plyometrics, martial arts, and yoga. You complete one workout routine for a month, do a different one the second month, and a different one the third month. You switch up the exercises just as your body adapts to a new routine. Like Crossfit and Monkey Bar Gym, all the exercises can be scaled to fit your level of fitness. As you work along with the DVD, they instruct you on how to modify the exercises if needed. (For example, can't do pullups? Try using a chair to support your legs.) In my mind, the major benefit of P90X is that it walks you, step by step, through a fitness program. If you actually follow the workouts and the nutrition plan, you will definitely get results. It's also a nice blend of exercises, and it will keep you interested. The cons, however, are several. First, p90x is designed to do at home. This could be a plus. However, after working out outside and in gyms for so long, I never could get used to working out in my living room. Particularly during the plyometrics exercises, I kept worrying my house would fall down. And, I miss the community aspect of being in a gym.  I think doing pullups in your living room gets a little old after a while. . . Secondly, the workouts switch every month, although you still do the same routine for 3-4 weeks and even once you switch you do similar exercises. After the first month, I got a little bored of doing pushups, pullups, and exercises with dumbbells. That said, if you are disciplined and you like working out at home, this may be a good option for you. In sum, I think all three workout routines effectively produce functional fitness, and all the good results that go along with that -such as fitness, performance, health, and, of course, abs :) By far, my strong preference is for Crossfit. I think it's unparalleled in the fitness world, and it's much more than a workout routine. It's a community of people who are interested in health and well-being and constantly looking to evolve the sport of fitness. Whatever you choose to do, I hope you find a workout routine that makes sense for you. People frequently ask me, "What's the best workout routine and when should I workout for best results?" My first answer is this: "If you're really interested, I think Crossfit is best. And, while you should mix it up, according to a study in Men's Health working out in the evening is most effective because your hormone levels are better calibrated to build muscle." But, I always follow that with the most important answer: "The best workout routine is the one that you actually do and the best time to workout is the time you will consistently do it! " I hope you've enjoyed this page, and I hope you'll visit my main Healthy Lifestyle page for more information about nutrition, sleep, and mind-body approaches. Leave Workout Routines and Return to BPGR Home Related Articles
|
Here's the deal with Crossfit:
Custom Search
Rescue Yourself!
Time Management Strategies to Take Your Life Back
