The Best Exercise Methods
by Bob Hannum March 18, 2013
| Table of Contents – Cross Training – Circuit Training – Iyengar Yoga – Pilates Mat Exercise – Swimming |
Any exercise is better than none so WHATEVER you choose is a great choice. However, only a very few methods pass my requirements for the best form of exercise. These criteria are:
- Complete: the form must combine all 3 types of exercise that fitness science says are critical for our health – cardio, strength training, and stretching. Read more about these essential exercises.
- Quick: the method must not take more than a ½ hour a day.
Very few exercise methods meet these two requirements. Here they are! I have listed them in alphabetical order, not by my preference – my favorite is Pilates!
Cross training is simply adding variety to your exercise, rather than doing the same thing every time. Cross training is sometimes referred to as circuit training, but there is a distinction which I will explain below.
You can do cross training yourself or check out the most popular examples of cross training such as the CrossFit gyms or the in-home video cross training workout P90X.
An example of cross training exercise is, instead of doing arm curls with weights, do 30 seconds of lifting a large heavy tire off the floor, then run hard for 30 seconds dragging a weight across the floor or a mini parachute attached to your back. Continue with a variety of different activities such as these that you don’t otherwise do, one after the other for a half hour. It’s strength training, cardio, and even dynamic stretching if you do P90X or have a trainer design a complete regimen for you.
I believe that this is the most effective exercise for people with physically demanding jobs such as combat troops, firefighters, police, package delivery drivers, etc.
Circuit Training
Circuit training and cross training are essentially the same concept: exercise by means of a variety of activities that challenge the widest range of all your muscle groups. However, the two are now distinguished by programs that have perfected cross training, and Curves which has perfected circuit training.
Circuit training uses a series of special machines rather than activities. These machines are hydraulic so that no adjustments are needed, and thus there are no pauses which would lower your heart rate and eliminate a cardio workout.
The typical circuit has as many as 13 machines which alternate upper and lower body muscle groups. All together these machines work every major muscle group in your body. You work a machine as hard as you can for 30 seconds which quickly elevates your heart rate and fatigues the muscle group. Then you quickly get off the machine and jog in place for 30 seconds on a cushioned platform known at Curves as a “recovery station”. You continue this twice around the circuit which takes about 25 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of stretching. Further perfecting this method, Curves has added “Curves Smart”, a computerized box attached to each machine which gives you immediate feedback about your range of motion, intensity of movement, heart rate, and repetitions. It’s a marvelous tool that actually pushes you beyond any level you could do without a personal trainer. In fact, Curves refers to this as a computerized personal trainer and in my experience it does just that – takes your mind off the unpleasant sensations of your workout just enough for you to push beyond your usual limit! Hydraulic machinery is without doubt the safest exercise equipment as it develops muscle in a balanced way and is as gentle on your joints as swimming. I use Curves after-hours (Curves is for women only) because my wife owns one. It’s so effective that I wish that this were available for men, and that every woman on the planet was a member!
Adding stretching at the end rather than automatically including it within the regimen is not following my criteria exactly, but circuit training is so effective that I have to include it here.
Iyengar Yoga
Stretching alone will not keep you healthy. In my yoga experience (practicing and teaching) it is marvelous for reducing stress, increasing coordination and balance, and speeding recovery from illness and injury. There is interesting research showing that stretching before certain activities such as competitive speed running, actually decreases performance. But I would say that this is only relevant at a professional level of performance. At all other levels stretching can only help.
To stay healthy your exercise routine must also include strength training and cardio. Most yoga methods are pure stretching, but a few include strength training and even cardio by making the poses physically rigorous and continuous. Iyengar yoga is the father of all rigorous yoga methods. Ashtanga is also quite good. You need to work up to a level where the poses fatigue your muscle groups, and you can go from one pose to the next with little or no pause in order to elevate and maintain a target heart rate.
Pilates Mat
Pilates Mat Exercises at the advanced level combine cardio, strength training, and stretching like no other! Each exercise is brilliantly designed to strengthen and stretch at the same time. In fact, dynamic stretching found in Pilates, cross training, and swimming has been proven to be more effective than passive stretching as found in yoga and circuit training.
But you must get to the point where you go from one exercise to the next without pause to add that all-important cardio aspect. Or follow my Cardio Pilates video.
Pilates is my preferred method for several reasons: it strengthens several muscle groups that no other method addresses so successfully – the transverse abdominus, iliopsoas, and inner obliques. It utilizes dynamic stretch and eccentric contraction which are superior to other stretching and strength training techniques. And the emphasis on breathing gives me more energy, and fluid motion is healthy for my joints. In short Pilates delivers more exercise benefits than any other method. For more about these benefits click here.
Swimming
Swimming is a complete exercise if done rigorously. By this I mean that if you swim hard 3 times a week to the point where you fatigue your leg and arm muscles, it fits into this unique category of the complete exercise, one that combines strength training, cardio, and stretching. There is no stress on the joints, and you can use different strokes to keep it varied and interesting. So there you have it, my top picks for the best – complete and quick – exercise methods available today. Ideally you should have all of these in your exercise “tool bag” because as you may have already experienced, the number one exercise challenge is boredom, and the best way to beat it is to have many things you do to stay fit. Your exercise tool bag also helps with another challenge to staying fit: “periodicity” which is a fancy term for the phenomenon that our muscles get used to any activity over time and thus require a variety of fitness activities.
So don’t hesitate to try a new exercise method. If you want to get fit and stay fit in a way that’s sustainable for the rest of your life, then it’s essential to keep things varied and interesting.