Stafford

THE CIRCUIT

Gymophobics 10 station Circuit combines five different exercise modalities, i.e. cardio-vascular, isotonic, isometric, calisthenics and stretch in one 30 minute session. This is unusual as most exercise regimes focus on just one (occasionally two) types of exercise.

In conventional Gyms, rarely, if ever, is Isometric exercise prescribed. This form of exercise which involves squeesing and contracting muscles to increase tonus was extremely popular in the early part of the last century but went out of fashion with the arrival of Gyms and Health Clubs in the 1960's. All modern Gyms rely entirely on Resistance exercise and ignore Isometrics despite an enormous volume of evidence to show how effective it can be.

The secret to the success of Gymophobics members in achieving remarkable figure improvement is the inclusion of Isometrics into their workout. The subtle integration of Isometrics with Isotonic resistance exercise is unique and follows years of experimentation. This unique exercise system, called Resisted Tension,  is the world's first registered and Trade Marked workout and is only available at Gymophobics!   Gymophobics Instructors are taught how to prescribe Resisted Tension for each member, based on their age, level of fitness and goals.

If you would like to know more about the technical side of the Gymophobics circuit, the notes that follow are for you. They explain the difference between each of the five modalities incorporated into the Gymophobics circuit.

CARDIO-VASCULAR EXERCISE

Gymophobics will keep your heart rate in the 'cardio training zone' for at least 20 minutes each session. That's sufficient to boost your energy and metabolism while dramatically reducing your risk of heart attacks, stroke and thrombosis

Cardio-vascular exercise is not an efficient way to lose weight as it would take an hour of vigorous jogging for most people to lose less than four ounces! But just 20 minutes of cardio on a regular basis is all the body needs to get you 'fit' and keep the circulation, heart and lungs in good shape. Any number of studies indicate that people who do cardio and get themselves ‘aerobically fit’ will live considerably longer on average than those who don’t! In fact, ‘aerobically fit’ people have up to a third less heart attacks, strokes and thrombosis. So Cardio will get you 'fit' on the inside at the same time as you are getting in great shape on the outside.

Some people imagine that the only way to do cardio-vascular exercise is to Jog, cycle or swim. In fact, any activity can be an effective cardio-vascular exercise as long as it is performed regularly and will sustain the Heart Rate in the ‘cardio training zone’ for twenty minutes or longer. That’s why at Gymophobics we have a Traffic Light system which keeps you moving round the circuit without a break.

The first station on the circuit is the Recumbent Cycle and it won’t take more than a couple of minutes cycling to get most members Heart Rate up to the required level. For most members, the required Heart Rate is 55% to 65% of something called maximal heart rate (max HR) which will be calculated for you by an Instructor. When cycling, your heart rate is displayed on the screen in front of you. From then on it is quite easy to maintain the Heart Rate in the cardio training zone as you move around the circuit without a break, making each session an effective cardio-vascular workout.

Six days of cardio each week is ideal so it is an excellent idea to get in a twenty/thirty minute cardio session on the days when you don’t visit the Gym so your Instructor will advise you on how to do this. A brisk walk is often the best option.

ISOTONIC EXERCISE

There are six Isotonic ‘stations’ on the circuit. These are designed to ‘work’ muscles against resistance. There is plenty of evidence to show that the more you work your muscles, the more fat you will burn off. That’s because our muscles are the most metabolically active tissue on the body. In other words, they burn more calories than any other tissue, so the more muscle we have and the more we use it, the more calories that we burn. Isotonic (resistance) exercise forces muscles to contract dynamically which increases their strength, tone and elasticity.

Muscles ‘atrophy’(shrink & weaken) as the years go by unless they are ‘worked’ in this way. By the age of forty, most people who don’t exercise have lost 20% of the muscle they had when they were twenty! And it gets worse. Every ten years thereafter it is estimated that they lose another ten percent so by the time someone is seventy a non exerciser will have lost as much fifty percent of their muscle. By ‘working’ muscles using Isotonic exercise, muscle atrophy will not only slow down but the effects can even be reversed.

As muscles grow stronger, tonus (elasticity) is increased, pulling in sagging areas and creating significant inch loss so working muscles against resistance is the key to a better figure. As muscles are exercised, metabolic rate and fat burning is improved, not just during exercise but 24/7. Stronger postural muscles also mean better Posture and less Back ache. Dieting alone cannot do this.

Most conventional gyms use ‘weight’ machines to provide resistance to the muscles during exercise.  Weight machines were originally designed by men, for men, and most women find them unpleasant and worry that they will ‘build’ large muscles when using them! They may have a point as weight machines are the favoured muscle building equipment used by competitive body builders.

At Gymophobics however, our resistance machines use ‘air’  instead of weights. ‘Air’ machines are much smoother to use than weight machines and safer too.They take the work out of the workout. 'Air' machines are designed to tone NOT build muscle. They were developed with women in mind, unlike conventional weight machines or the primitive Hydraulic equipment favored by most ‘circuit’ gyms.

Most women find Hydraulic equipment is even more awkward to use than weight machines and because it is well nigh impossible to adjust the resistance on a Hydraulic machine, most women soon give up trying. The inevitable outcome therefore is that wherever Hydraulic equipment is used, most women end up doing exactly the same programme as everybody else. That would be fine if all women were the same, but as they are not, hydraulics can not be used to isolate and solve each and every woman’s figure problem. By comparison, Gymophobics ‘air’ machines can be adapted to suit each User to allow the Instructor to ‘target’ each member’s problem areas.

ISOMETRIC EXERCISE

When a form of exercise called Isometrics became popular at the early part of the twentieth century, it was discovered that by holding muscles in a contracted state for varying lengths of time the result could be startling increases in muscle strength and tone. How long the muscle is contracted and how often the exercise is repeated can of course make a huge difference to the results that can be achieved and it was only much later that exercise scientists did the research and studies that were needed to discover how to maximize the benefits from this form of exercise.

With the expansion of Isotonic resistance training in modern gyms, Isometrics went out of fashion and almost disappeared from view. The truth remains however, that Isometrics still has a lot to offer anyone who wants to tone and strengthen sagging muscles.

That’s why today, the Gymophobics workout  integrates Isotonic and Isometric principles. Called Resisted Tension, it is almost certainly the only workout in the world to do so, making it possible to speed up inch loss dramatically

CALLISTHENIC EXERCISE

There are two Calisthenics 'stations' on the circuit. ‘Calisthenics’ are highly specialised exercises using your own body as resistance and are ideal for focusing on a particular ‘problem’ area. Wherever your main 'problem' area is, your Instructor will prescribe the Calisthenics that are right for you. Without the Calisthenics ‘stations’ everyone would be doing exactly the same volume of ‘work’ for each body part. Calisthenics ‘stations’ however allow your Instructor to concentrate more ‘work’ on the areas that require most attention.

It should also be pointed out that Instructors may also include Isometrics and Isotonic exercise at the Calisthenics ‘stations’ using hand or ankle weights as additional resistance. Unlike 'air resistance' machines, using hand or ankle weights gives your Instructor the flexibility to target Isotonic exercise on any problem area.

STRETCHING

The tenth and final 'station' on the Gymophobics Circuit is the Precor stretch machine. Eight separate stretches can be performed to ensure that all major muscle groups are gently lengthened to reduce the risk of post exercise soreness and Back pain.

In the past, athletes would always ‘stretch’ before commencing a training session. The result was that many injuries were caused by attempting to stretch out cold muscles. These days most experts agree that whilst a pre-exercise ‘warm up’ is important to raise the temperature of muscles before more vigorous exercise, it is best to only ‘stretch’ muscles after exercise. Gentle post exercise stretching is the best way to avoid soft tissue injuries.

The Gymophobics system is unique and no other 30 minute circuit gym comes close. Others have tried to copy us of course, which we take as a compliment, but without the Resisted Tension training programme that our staff complete and without the inclusion of all five exercise modalities in each Member’s programme, our competitors cannot hope to achieve the results that our members regularly obtain.