What Is Holistic Training?

By Howe Russ


Every ten years or so, an old style of exercise comes back into the foreground. From kettlebells to high intensity interval training, the fitness world loves a comeback. One of the items doing this right now is the art of holistic training.

You could be forgiven for thinking your local gym didn't want you to train, such is the fitness industry's obsession with developing new methods to get you in and out of there in less time each day.

If you ask any trainer for advice on how to lose weight you'll be able to see that the current trends on the exercise circuit are high intensity interval training and boot camp workouts. However, if you traveled back in time just a few years that answer would have been slightly different.

Back in the 1980's, holistic methods were all the rage. As with most things, we do love to give things scientific names. When you get down to the real facts, however, you'll notice that the things at the foundation of this training method are actually very simple indeed.

The word holistic means varied. This means you're entire workout routine is going to switch between different styles and goals. This usually happens on a weekly basis and continues for a period of roughly two or three months before a new program is started.

So, what are the benefits to this often overlooked method?

Actually, there are two huge benefits.

* A weekly change in your program will stimulate new gains and fat loss.

* It also forces the fitness enthusiast to try new workouts and keep their routine interesting.

The most common problems with people who hit plateau usually involve boredom and lack of progression. As you can see above, those are the two main areas this workout method attacks, making it a great choice for those who usually succumb to the pressures of either issue.

That's because it involves switching between different styles on a weekly basis. You'd be going from training with high resistance and low repetitions in one week, to suddenly doing high intensity sessions involving lots of work the next, followed by extremely low rep strongman style workouts. The constant variation is enough to keep most people away from the slightest plateau. This is great for both muscle building and fat loss.

There is one drawback, however. Monitoring your progress can become tricky when you are using so many different options. It's going to be difficult to tell if your bench press has improved over the course of your training month because you'll be switching between heavy and light resistance every seven days.

If that's a highly important thing for you then you might want to consider using a different approach. All in all, however, holistic training is something which appeals to most folks and can be used whether your goal is to learn how to lose weight or how to gain strength.




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