EVERY WORKOUT SHOULD BE TOTAL BODY
We live in a world where we expect customization. We expect Netflix to tell us what to watch, Spotify to tell us what to listen to, and food delivery apps to snag us the ideal date night menu. We even expect to curate our circles of friends and sources of news on social media.
It's absolutely no wonder why, then, we also expect to be able to hyper target the focus of our workouts to achieve super specific changes in our bodies.
And you can, in theory, do that. But you’ll probably end up injured or overtrained. I realize this is a classic Unpopular Opinion moment, but hear me out.
The body is a closed system.
Every single part of the body, muscle or otherwise, is meant to work together intentionally, in a purely functional way - to keep us as healthy as possible so that we survive as long as possible.
Individual muscles don't work alone to perform anything in your functional life. When you walk with a bag of groceries, your bicep isn’t doing all the work to hold the bag in your hand - the body is working together from the ground up to hold you in a safe position so you can move while still supporting the weight of the bag. It’s an everyday moment, but a complex movement with many muscles working together to perform an activity.
If we function in life that way, we need to train that way. When you consistently isolate muscles in training, you’re not using the full support system of muscles that is designed to function intentionally to keep you healthy and alive as long as possible.
There are so many reasons why training the body as a whole is much more efficient than doing a million variations of a bicep curl, but here are two that I want you to take home with you:
You cannot target fat loss in a certain area of the body by targeting your workout to those areas.
You’re also *much* more prone to injuring yourself if you do.
Let’s say you want to get that booty right. If you focus only on your ass exercises without working on the rest of the supporting posterior chain - the back, the core, and the hamstrings - you’re bound to end up with an unbalanced system. And if you’re working to grow a bigger booty, you need to make sure those legs are strong enough to hold it up.
The body is so. damn. smart. Once your glutes start to get tired from your 75 hip thrusts, other muscles are recruited to come in and help. When you do those isolated ass exercises over and over and over again and the form starts to slip, or you don't really “feel it” in your ass, the rest of your body will help you get it done - until it doesn't. Until there’s a lower back issue, a pulled hamstring, or tight hip flexors.
That’s why every workout should be Total Body, and why I program PUSH and PULL days to work that beautiful system the exact way it was meant to be used. My programming supports the natural functioning of the human body, which is why you’ll see higher extended calorie burn throughout the day and sustainable changes to your system as a whole as you continue coming to class. I can help you get that booty plus improve the supporting muscles around it to prevent injury and not only make you look good, but feel strong.
This is that magic we are all seeking, all the time: balance. If you trust me to help you build a strong total body system, and go all in every time you show up, you’ll not only reach your goals, you’ll be able to sustain them.
xo,
Coach Katie
