Does it really have to be one or the other?

Blurring the lines between training performance, and training to look good

If you’re trying to improve the composition of your body and how it looks. It’s time to start focusing on your performance in the gym rather than the physicalities of the body.

Start thinking of how you want your body to perform, start doing movements which will allow this to happen, and watch your body transform.

Historically the gym was a place where men and women would go to, to develop physical qualities: speed, power and strength to improve their physical prowess.

These days, however the gym has become a place to ‘get fit’ or ‘get ripped’. It has become a place to help you look good, rather than to enhance performance.

Make looking good, the byproduct of your hard work and develop deeper motivations behind your training.

Engaging in a Calisthenic (bodyweight) training program is fun, but challenging. Best of all it has a major impact on our motivation to train.

We’re seeing a return in basic bodyweight movements that when programmed correctly are super effective and creative.

Less is now more, the latest trend is to be lifting, holding and hurtling our body weights, to make the most of what we have. Shifting our focus to how we can use our bodies to enhance performance; rather than using machines.

This type of training, often shifts our motivation towards performance rather than trying to look good.

It’s about, having your cake and eating it too. Whilst we all want to look fit, we need to also be incrementally bettering our performance- (lifting heavier, running faster- whatever it may be).

Ask yourself this, do you want to look like the hero, or be the hero?

There are no right or wrong answers, but this question impacts how we approach our training.

Visual fitness seems more impressive, instantaneously, which is why more people strive for a muscular physique a six pack.

It may seem impressive to ‘look’ the part, until the moment when you have to to run or perform another manual task in life.

Compare this to your performance, when your highest priority, are the results you get from performing and not the ones you see in the mirror.

While the two sides of fitness, the visual and the practical are not exclusive to each other, in the modern world, they commonly are.

If you’re interested in developing both, all you have to do is train, consistently. That’s all it takes to be fit, capable and strong.

The processes you put in place will determine the outcome, but I can assure you focusing on the movement will result in improvement.