Achieving goals while remaining injury free are the two most common items that members express to us when we meet them for the first time. As your coaches and responsible fitness professionals it is our job to provide you with programs that help you do that! While all of us need to function similarly to enjoy our everyday life, we are all in different seasons of life when it comes to fitness. Some may be getting back to it after a few years off or coming back from childbirth or maybe even an injury. Others may be getting into fitness for the very first time. Some may have a lifetime of activity under their belt and are looking for coaching to help them improve how they move. Each of these scenarios requires a different training mindset, focus, and program variation.
As your hired professional we’ll accurately assess where you’re at based on history, goals, and movement capability that we observe while coaching you. Then we’ll be able to place you in a Training Phase that helps you ACHIEVE GOALS, REMAIN INJURY FREE and PROGRESS towards other training phases. Here are brief descriptions of phases you can expect to see, experience, and work between while at Earned Fitness:
- STABILITY. This phase sets the foundation for proper functional movement. While focusing on your stability you’ll be improving your range of motion and strength/stability to support that range of motion. This will build or restore healthy joint function and set you up for success in other training phases. This is not just a “beginner’s phase” and stability movements are crucial for everyone to perform in the pursuit of an active lifestyle. Movements in this phase may look like single leg or single arm weightlifting movements and/or classic core/midline exercises like plank variations, bridges, and clamshells. You may even see some of these movements in other phases!
- CORE ENDURANCE. This phase is all about building endurance in your core and ability to sustain movement patterns while under tension for a long time. It is a “next step” after establishing your stability and could serve as a training zone that you may choose to stay in forever. Movements in this phase may incorporate dumbbells or barbells and are typically performed for less sets, in higher repetition, giving your muscles and movement patterns “time under tension.” Time under tension is key to building a strong and enduring core while honing in on the ability to perform quality reps under some fatigue.
- STRENGTH/POWER. These training phases focus on building raw strength and power(explosiveness). Some of you may choose to incorporate these phases because they may benefit some of your observable goals like gaining muscle or hitting a PR lift. Exercises in this phase may look like 1-5 rep max tests on your deadlift or back squat and can also be strength building days where you perform a 5×5 set/rep scheme on a lift such as the bench press. This training phase is very specific and is not a requirement for building health and a strong fitness. When you do choose this route, it is wise to move back and forth with the core endurance phase every few months giving your muscles and joints much needed recovery from heavier loads as well as maintaining your strong fundamental base of stability and core endurance!
I hope this provides some insight into the decisions we make each day in guiding you. Collaborating with you and sharing our honest opinion with where you’re at, we’ll get you into the phase that suits you best now. Offering direction and feedback paired with your hard work we can progress you into other phases in due time when we believe that it will help you achieve your goals and remain injury free!
