Training with and without equipment

Performing with & without Equipment 

*Updated September 2020*

Body Weight Workouts

We've updated this article as it is relevant now more than ever. With more athlete's training from home it is important to appropriately adjust training to fit their situation. Often, this means updating programs to bodyweight only exercises. Check out some suggestions our team has put together on how bodyweight workouts can be extremely beneficial to athletes. 

Even if athlete's do have access to some equipment at home body weight workouts can be used as a way to take a break from a typical weight workout routine. This is also a great trend for building up your athlete's confidence to workout on his/her own. By going over simple, yet effective exercises consistently you can educate each on how to perform these exercises on their own when more weight is added. 

These can be turned into pretty difficult workouts if your athlete needs more intensity. Adding in less rest can be a simple way to increase the intensity and keep their heart rate up.

Bodyweight workouts are also a tool to utilize for athletes that are coming off of an injury or for new athletes. This is the place where you get back to the fundamentals and really tune in on doing the movements properly.

Bring in the importance of body awareness when teaching movement. They should be aware of how their whole body is working together. Often times, when we are surrounded by weights we have the instinct to keep doing more. But more is not always better, especially if the quality of movement is lacking.

Movement is the building block for progress, so properly educate them on how to move well, and often.

Key Tip: "All great coaches keep it simple." - Michael Cazayoux

Focus on mastering the basic fundamentals. It is easy to get caught up in the newest trends and trying to stay on the cutting edge. But the basics are the core to all the movement progressions your athletes will be learning.

Don't get eager to jump to the next new thing and neglect mastering the basics.

Multi-functional equipment
Let's break this down a bit. What is functional training and why is it so popular? Great question.
Functional training puts an emphasis on movement quality over load and intensity. Just like Tanna Burge does when training athletes at Texas A&M.
"More isn't always better. It's just more. So make sure that what you're doing is really good quality. I would much rather have really solid quality of movement with a load on, than crappy movement quality with a high load, because then you start to get these wear and tear issues."

Functional training brings attention back to the fundamentals. This type of training is popular with athletes because they can focus on the movement they would be doing during games. Exercises using cable systems are a great example, so let's talk about them.

Cable systems are everywhere. People are bringing in multi-use pulley systems instead of simply focusing on deadlift and weight racks. Why? Because implementing this equipment can be useful in more ways than just one.

First, it allows for more exercises and muscles to be used on just one machine, so less equipment will be needed in your training center. Because pulley systems put less stress and tension on limbs, anyone from novice to pro athletes can get an impactful workout.

When athletes use these machines they are working more muscles than when they are simply doing barbells. The inertia, acceleration and friction that happens during each movement is more beneficial. The changing force from pulley systems evoke a similar experience to the impact of game day, allowing training to become even more effective towards an athlete's overall longevity and success.

With the rise of functional training, more gyms are beginning to create high-intensity functional fitness zones, incorporating the pulley system into more routines. Read more on the benefits of pulley systems and functional training.

Technology
Fully integrated software and systems are becoming the expectation for many users. They want to stay on the cutting edge with their training, their data and their technology. So you should ensure you are too. For all the latest and greatest for tech gadgets and how to incorporate them into your gym, check out our Sports Technology page.