Train fast, train smart

If like the vast majority of people, the goal that motivates you to exercise is aesthetics, there seems to be two types of exercise at your disposal. You either do aerobic exercise on cardio machines or resistance exercise with weights. 

As knowledge of exercise progresses, cardio machines become more sophisticated. They now offer you interval training and variable resistance which makes it possible to have a varying intensity workout. This is great. but even with this option available, people tend to spend most of the time at the same intensity and operate in a relatively comfortable aerobic state, only hitting the really uncomfortable bit for a few minutes at the end.

The other alternative is resistance exercise, which maximally exerts different body parts intermittently. Usually there is less of a cardio workout (there doesn't have to be) but the time spent exercising is shorter and it tends to be more varied and interesting so there is a balance.

But there is a secret third option, which is power training. This is different from resistance exercise because it focuses primarily on speed, ie the amount of energy you can expend in a short but constant period of time. Examples of this include battle ropes, sprints and short circuits. 

So, how do you decide which method of exercise is best for the body composition you want?

Deciding the type of training you want to do in order to achieve the physique that you want is a simple process. Simply look at someone with the physique you want and train like they do. If you mirror their actions, with time you will mirror their results. 

In order to demonstrate an example I would like to discuss Olympic athletes. What I have done is collected 2 pictures of the best men's and women's sprinters at the summer games and compared them against the 2 10,000m gold medalists. 

I would like to make clear at this point that I have the utmost respect for all of these athletes, the passion and discipline required to achieve what they have is nothing short of inspirational. Having said that I train people who want primarily to look good and this example is the best I can think of. 



Usain Bolt - 100m, 200m, 4x100m Olympic Champion




Mo Farah - 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic Champion 



Allyson Felix - 200m, 400m and 4x400m Olympic Champion



Tirunesh Dibaba - 10,000m Olympic Champion

So you've seen the specialists and I'm sure you can spot the difference; sprinters and middle distance runners are both very lean, the difference between the two is muscle mass, simply put sprinters have more of it. Also notice how Allyson Felix clearly has more muscle mass and still looks feminine. 

Sprint Training - Strength and power training in the gym and then power training on the track. 
Middle distance training - Steady state aerobic cardio, strength training in the gym and moderate intensity interval training. 

For men I think the point is settled. For women who tend to be a bit more resistant to leaving the treadmills behind, I'd like to point out that these athletes are extreme examples. Many women fear six packs, thinking it looks unattractive on a woman, which is fine, but a 6 pack won't happen by accident. No-one in history got a 6 pack when they specifically didn't want one. 

With those pictures in mind, what kind of training do you want to do? At RWL Gym have proven that we don't need cardio machines in order to get the body composition results that people want. The choice is yours.

Refs
http://www.squidoo.com/usain-bolt-workout

http://www.zimbio.com/Mo+Farah/articles/ivi-fu6fcap/Mo+Farah+Training+Regime+Keys+Success