5 Reasons You Need Total Body Workouts
If you hit a plateau, struggle with losing that last 5lbs, or try to take your physique to the next level, total-body training could be the secret that you’re missing.
In the old school world of bodybuilding, many trainers recommended breaking up workouts by muscle groups (arms, shoulders, legs, etc). It’s not uncommon to see training “splits” (aka plans) that contain six or even seven days of weight training workouts that last upwards of an hour per session.
The truth? Despite our best intentions and our commitments to our workouts, spending 6+ hours at the gym each week (in addition to everything else that we busy women have on our plates) proves a daunting task.
We simply don’t have time.
And that’s ok.
What if I told you there was a better way? A secret training plan that helps you get MORE results in LESS time!
The secret: total body workouts!
What is a total body workout?
A total body workout (like those we do in the BeyondFit Life Club) relies on complex, multi-joint movements that engage more muscle groups at once, in addition to your core. Whether you want to build strength, shed pounds, or become a more well-rounded athlete, increasing the complexity of your movements results in a greater neuromuscular and cardiovascular challenge. Additionally, total body workouts maximize fat burning and muscle building ability.
5 Reasons You NEED Total Body Workouts
1. You’ll spend less time working out.
Since total body workouts can be performed over the course of just two or three days a week, this allows more time for other obligations in your life. Total body workouts require much less time commitment while still getting you results. If you’re a busy mom, you know that sometimes it’s hard enough to find time in your day to eat or even shower…let alone drag yourself to the gym. It can be hard-or sometimes impossible-to fit a six-day-a-week gym program into your routine.
Maximize workout results, minimize time spent working out. Instead of spending six or seven days at the gym, you can cram a week’s worth of muscle building and fat burning benefits into just 3 days of workouts. Total body workouts can be performed over the course of just two or three days a week and still hit every major muscle group that you would during a traditional bodybuilding workout split. Choosing the right total body training program will minimize the time you spend working out and maximize your body changing results. Read more about exercise efficiency.
2. You’ll recover better.
Studies show that total body workouts are linked to improved muscle recovery rates. Back-to-back workouts without a day to rest and recover leads to fatigue, increased cortisol, and burn out. In addition, whenever you lift a weight, a stress is placed on your central nervous system (CNS). When you’re stimulating the CNS day after day after day, eventually it begins to fatigue and the overall amount you’re able to lift will decrease over time. The only way to prevent this from happening is to give the CNS a complete break from training, which works best if your program includes total body workouts and scheduled rest days. With total body workouts plans like this, you give your body time to recover in between training sessions. This means more fat burning, more muscle building, and less muscle soreness or likelihood of injury.
3. You’ll bust through plateaus.
In order to prevent plateaus, it’s important that you’re constantly challenging yourself during your workout. There are many ways that you can challenge yourself through your workout program. This could be adding weight to the exercises you’re performing, increasing the total number of reps you are completing, or if you’re circuit training, simply completing more rounds of a particular circuit. Decreased rest time and increased working time is a great way to add challenge to your workout, but it’s hard to do with traditional weight lifting program splits that require all exercises to be done with one muscle group per day. With total body weight training, it’s incredibly easy to create challenging workouts that hit your entire body and prevent the plateau.
4. You can do it from home.
If you love the gym, go for it! But if you’re a busy mom who can’t get to the gym or prefers to do her workouts at home (I love to get mine in while my kiddos are sleeping), total body workouts are a perfect option for you. Traditional weight training workouts often require expensive equipment, whereas total body workout require fewer different lifts total, making it easier to complete them just with a set of dumbbells.
5. You’ll boost fat burning hormones.
Studies show that total body weight training workouts result in increased fat burning hormone production. The higher the levels of fat burning and muscle building hormones that you have in your body, the faster you’re going to be able to get to your goal. When it comes to increasing muscle building and fat burning hormones through workouts, exercises that utilize full body movements and work as many muscle fibers as possible are going to release the greatest amount of these hormones. Read more about hormones.
If you’re like me, you need a workout plan that gets you results quickly. With busy schedules, it’s nice to know that in even the busiest of weeks, I can somehow fit in three quick workouts. And even if I do miss a day, I can make it up the next day and it won’t throw off my weekly schedule.
For this reason, and all of those stated above, total body workouts are the most practical approach for busy moms who want results. When done correctly, total body workouts can be used to build muscle and burn fat and get you to your goals in record time!
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