Alternative to curves
417-693-4141  
 

The 5 Dimensions of Fitness and Hydraulic Interval Circuit Training Equipment

 
MYTRAK-Wireless Body Monitoring
Training and Certification
Marketing
Ordering & Shipping
Testimonials
Resellers and Agents

Circuit Training Benefits

5 Dimensions of Fitness

 


                           
1) Cardio-Respiratory Endurance

Cardio-respiratory endurance refers to your body’s ability to supply its tissue with nutrients and oxygen and remove their wastes over sustained periods of time.  A common test of cardio-respiratory endurance is walking or running up an incline.  This fitness dimension uses the measurement known as “maximal oxygen uptake” (VO2 max), which indicates the maximum amount of oxygen a person can use.  Also called oxygen intake, this measurement is expressed in liters per minute, or milliliters per kilograms of body weight per minute.  The greater your cardio-respiratory fitness level, the higher your VO2 max value, and vice versa.  However, after the age of 25, the VO2 max value declines steadily.

Circuit Training with Hydraulic Resistance for Cardio Respiratory Fitness

Interval circuit training with hydraulic fitness equipment is one of the best aerobic fitness programs ever designed and with the secondary benefit of strength training your VO2 maximal measurement will improve consistently.

2) Muscular Endurance  

Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle, or group of muscles, to sustain repeated contractions, like push-ups.  For athletes who use a lot of muscle groups simultaneously and everyday folks who enjoy physical activities like hiking, biking, skiing, or just playing in the park with their children, muscular endurance plays a primary role in fitness.

Although elite performers need to distinguish between strength and endurance, mainstream people striving for health and fitness goals can group them together.  Individuals need modest levels of strength and endurance to be able to perform everyday routines that include lifting, moving, carrying, etc.  Furthermore, abdominal endurance factors importantly into the prevention of low back problems, and resistance activities that maintain muscle mass are particularly valuable for individuals who are restricting their calorie intake.

Circuit Training with Hydraulic Resistance Equipment Improves Muscular Endurance

Because it engages the body’s “fast twitch” muscles, circuit training is highly effective at developing and increasing muscular endurance.  As your speed intensifies and your cardio-respiratory fitness improves, you will notice a new ease when performing everyday movements; enhanced muscular endurance allows you to move and work more effortlessly each day, without tiring, as well as augments your chosen sports and activities if you are an athlete.  The benefits of good muscular endurance are innumerable, as you’ll discover.

3) Muscular Strength

Muscular strength is the amount of force a muscle can exert in a brief period of time.  Various weight lifting exercises, such as the bench press, are often used to measure upper body strength, for example.  Muscular strength is often represented as the maximum amount of weight a muscle, or muscle group, can lift for a single repetition, exhausting it to the point it can do no more repetitions without rest.  Because muscle utilizes more calories than fat, increasing your body’s muscle mass will accelerate your weight loss plan.  Obviously, becoming stronger generates numerous benefits, so increasing muscular strength should be a target for any well-balanced fitness plan.

Circuit Training with Hydraulic Resistance for Muscular Strength

Women particularly tend to be more concerned with muscular and aerobic endurance as evidenced by the popularity of aerobic conditioning classes.  Women prefer this type of training, with the motivation provided by group participation, music, and a clock, by a 9 to 1 ratio over men. Hydraulic fitness equipment is not a replacement for free weights or weight based exercise machines.  Hydraulic fitness equipment used with interval circuit training programs yield a bounty of benefits among all five of the dimensions of fitness however participants who are seriously concerned with increasing muscular strength will want to incorporate free weights into their overall regimen. The muscle breakdown that happens with free weights can reach 100% whereas 20-30% would be the ceiling with hydraulic resistance.  In summary, if you want agility, flexibility, endurance and weight loss, the interval circuit training program is an awesome way to achieve it.

4) Flexibility Fitness

Flexibility fitness enables people to move their joints and muscles through their full range of motion (ROM) without hindrance or pain.  Not only does flexibility fitness play an enormous role in many daily tasks, in the abdomen and trunk area it contributes tremendously to good lower back health.  Most fitness experts recommend a daily routine of 2-3 static stretches (moving a joint to its extreme position and holding it for 10-30 sec) for each joint.  Many times, exercisers include these flexibility activities as part of their warm-up and cool-down.  Improving flexibility helps prevent injuries and allows you to successfully enjoy all of the activities you undertake.

Circuit Training with Hydraulic Resistance for Flexibility Fitness

Using your arms, legs, back, stomach and other muscle groups during a circuit training class warms your body up and enables you to improve your range of motion and overall flexibility.  Because of the adaptive nature of hydraulic resistance achieving full range of motion (ROM) is much easier for many participants.  The interval circuit training program is designed to maximize the benefits of flexibility fitness by setting the parameters for a complete flexibility workout.  To achieve maximal flexibility fitness you can add a full range of stretching exercises at the end of your circuit training class after your muscles are warmed up.

5) Body Composition  

Body Composition, the fifth aspect of fitness, refers to the makeup of the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bone, tissue and organs) and fat mass.  An optimal ratio of fat mass to lean mass is a clear indicator of good fitness.  Doing the right types of exercises will help you decrease body fat and increase, or maintain, muscle mass.

Since muscle tissue weighs more than fat tissue, your bathroom scale won’t necessarily tell you whether or not you’re “fat.”  If you’re doing a regular program of strength training, your muscle mass will steadily grow, raising your overall weight temporarily while your “metabolic thermostat” resets higher.  Body composition is a better indicator of your overall fitness condition than body weight.  The amount of exercise necessary to improve your body composition depends on what you do, how often you do it, and how much you eat.  Aerobic exercise rapidly burns body fat and increases muscles mass, thereby significantly improving your body composition.

Circuit Training with Hydraulic Resistance for Body Composition

Circuit training is the perfect choice because each class forces various muscle groups, and your heart and your lungs to work simultaneously, which creates a higher demand for energy.  As all five dimensions of your fitness steadily improve, you will burn more and more calories.  Initially, you will probably expend 200-300 calories per exercise session, but after 90 days of circuit training, depending on the frequency, time and intensity of your program, you could be burning in excess of 600-900 calories per session.

There you have it.  All five dimensions of fitness profit immensely from interval circuit training exercise and this is one of the reasons for its popularity. 

 

Copyright © 2004 Hydracise All Rights Reserved.