MIKE HEATLIE: ARTICLES:Stop the Body building Madness!!

Stop the BodybuildingMadness!!

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Mike Heatlie MSc is one of the leading Personal Trainers worldwide. Mike holds a Masters Degree in Medicine & Science in Sport & Exercise and a 1st Class Honors Degree in Sport & Exercise Science. He has a ten year Personal Training relationship with US singer Gwen Stefani, and is the author of the epic ebook 'Lose 10 Years, 10 Pounds, in 5 Weeks!'

Stop the BodybuildingMadness!!

By Mike Heatlie MSc
Article Word Count: 682

There have been many individuals who have impacted the health and fitness industry. Charles Atlas is remembered for his tremendous
physique and was once termed, ‘The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man.’ Jane Fonda began an aerobics craze in the 80s and sold 17 million copies of her video, ‘Jane Fonda’s Workout.’ She went on to produce 23 workout videos, 5 workout books, and 13 audio programs. There have been others also, but without question the one individual who has changed the fitness industry and fitness clubs forever is our friend, our leader….the great Arnold
Schwarzenegger!

For sure the historic Gold’s Gym opened before Big Arnie came to the USA, but it was he who made that gym world famous. There are now over 600
Golds Gyms in 43 states of America and 25 countries. If you look at mostly all gyms today, they’re filled with popular fixed weight and cardio machines and
also free weights. Many of the exercises performed by individuals in gyms around the world have emanated from bodybuilding. Many trainers still
incorporate bodybuilding exercises in their training sessions.

So what’s my point? What’s the problem? The problem is that the bodybuilding hype, and in particular big Arnie, gave rise to gym equipment
and the owners of gyms producing bodybuilding machines and promoting bodybuilding routines. Only recently I was training in gym in LA which was
full of fixed weight machines, all designed to isolate muscle groups. I saw Personal Trainers implementing bodybuilding exercises with their clients. My
problem is that bodybuilding exercises are designed for just that purpose, to build bodies. Why then are trainers giving their female clients, their older adult
clients, and even their male clients who don’t want to get big,

bodybuilding exercises?

Big Arnie had an impact on the fitness industry that sees most trainers still employ bodybuilding routines. Seated shoulder press, lying chest press, bicep
curls, tricep pushdowns etc. etc. Now nothing is wrong necessarily with these exercises, but they are designed so that we can perform them with great resistance. Most women I know or whom I have trained have not liked bodybuilding type exercises. Women don’t like the isolated pump of blood into
one muscle group the way the guys do. Guys love the feeling of the blood pumping into their muscles making them larger and firmer. Women don’t like their legs to feel like their bigger, who can blame them.

Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote a book that was the bible of bodybuilding and for many trainers their manual for exercise prescription. It was the
encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding and demonstrated many exercises for each muscle group, mostly all isolating exercises. This led to many people getting into great shape, however it also led many people to the physio’s clinic, myself included!

If Arnie hadn’t been around, or if bodybuilding hadn’t proved popular, I wonder just how different our gyms would be. If only Superman had came out
and said, “I use cables, balls, bands and ropes to get in shape!” Had he demonstrated a series of Superman and Superwomen exercises our gyms
today may well have looked very different.

Seriously, we need to be moving away from bodybuilding routines and focus on multimuscle and multijoint exercises. If muscle growth is your goal, then
bodybuilding is fine for you, no question. I recently dieted down to 152 lbs for a photo shoot recently and I’m now on a quest back up to 168 lbs. I will do this with a variety of exercises including functional exercises; however the bulk of them will be bodybuilding movements such as bench press etc.

For the vast majority looking to get in shape however, bodybuilding isn’t the way to go. More and more personal trainers are progressing with their
exercise programs with excellent multiplane, multi joint exercises, I see it every day. This can only be good for our industry, and as soon as one over
hyped celebrity reveals his or her magic functional training routine we may see our fitness clubs and gyms moving forward, rather than being stuck in the
past. We’re getting there though, slowly!

www.mikeheatlie.com
www.lose10poundsin5weeks.com

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