At our gym, we get a lot of people visiting who have spent years training at other gyms. They often tell us, politely “No! I don’t need a tour! I really know my way around the gym”. This is usually true; they are very familiar with every inch of a typical gym. Many of these nice folks have spent years and years – countless hours working out at a variety of popular bodybuilding or fitness gyms. They know the equipment and the accessories inside-out.
Some of the most interesting folks have actual experience competing in bodybuilding or figure contests. These contests represent serious dedication and long, long hours of training. They also represent extreme denial and discipline especially with respect to dieting. Then there is the tanning, practicing a “routine”, the stress, juggling work and family, etc.
What is amazing is that pretty much every one of these folks who had a contest a few years ago is visibly out of shape. They know it. They almost always mention this. “I have put on an extra 30 pounds since then, but man was I in shape for that contest”. A few show me very impressive pictures taken at their competition a few years back.
Experiencing these visits over and over again, I am always excited to introduce advanced strength methods and equipment to these folks. There’s a great reason for that. On this decidedly more functional side of the training spectrum, these wide aesthetic vacillations or visible “swings” in and out of shape generally do not occur.
We always end up walking around the gym and chatting anyways, even though they didn’t want a formal tour. Questions invariably follow about some of our equipment. The rows of over-sized metal chains, the large numbers of big metal racks and platforms, unusual bars, a reverse hyper machine, weighted sled, belt squat platform; one or more of these things usually arouses their curiosity. Sometimes it’s the obvious omission of equipment like a preacher’s curl, leg extension, “Pec-deck”, or other muscle isolating machines they became very familiar with at other gyms.
The fact is, all of the folks I know on the athletic side of resistance training are always in fantastic aesthetic shape or very, very close. Unless they are super-heavy weights or play sports (football linemen, super-heavy weight divisions) where added body weight is an advantage, this is generally the norm. They just don’t seem to have the same body fat or fitness “hills and valleys”.
As far as I can tell, this is because athletic strength training does not require the same high volumes of discipline, time, and dieting that the purely aesthetic or bodybuilding form or training demands. The intensity is generally much higher and so there is much less time in the gym. Active rest and restoration are a required part of the training. Combined with a responsible diet – consistently exceptional results both functional AND aesthetic are a foregone conclusion.