What Kind Of Workouts Do We Do At Clear Cut Fitness?
Learn what kinds of workouts and training style we do at clear cut fitness.
When I meet someone new I’m often asked the question:
What kind of workouts do you do at your gym?
Sometimes it’s even followed up with “Do you do like Crossfit? or Pilates, or circuit training?”
And to be honest, I’ve always struggled to answer that question succinctly. I would even get slightly offended when having to put a label on a the type of workouts we do at Clear Cut Fitness.
My typical answer is something like: “Well, it’s like, anything you need depending on your goal. Ya know? We use everything from barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, bands, chains, bodyweight and more. Sometimes circuits, sometimes max strength, sometimes athletic performance stuff. It really depends on what your goal is and where you are in terms of your current fitness level and capabilities.”
That answer usually goes one of two ways: Either falls upon dead ears and the conversation is switched, or the person is intrigued and will ask more about it to understand what we do a little bit more.
That’s a big reason why I’m personally not as active on social media like Instagram, Facebook or Tiktok as I am on YouTube and writing blogs. Most social media is geared towards a quick answer, a one size fits all, black and white answer. Fitness and nutrition are certainly not as black and white as people want to think.
I find I can get my point across better in person, through writing a blog or creating a longer video that can explain the topic a bit more.
The fact that social media divides people into different camps really bothers me. In fitness you fall into categories and people tout phrases like:
“Yoga is the best!”
“I got super fit doing pilates”
“CROSSFIT ALL THE FUCKIN WAY”
“I’m super fit I do like 5 spin classes a week, ya the 6am class, super hardcore instructor, makes you sweat like crazy, ya it’s intense so I don’t need to do weights.”
or
“Bro this guy can’t even bench like 2 plates you gotta bench a lot to be in shape”. Those are just stereotypical examples but there are so many more.
This leaves you, the consumer, more confused than ever. You want to get into better shape, so which should you do? Are you intimidated by Crossfit? Does yoga seem like an easier entry to fitness, but not tough enough? Maybe you try pilates as an inbetween. You might see some results but not everything you’ve been promised..
The thing is, pretty much all forms of exercise are good and there are benefits to any type of fitness. However, the main problem with being married to one kind of fitness is that you pigeonhole yourself in terms of benefitting from all sorts of exercise stimuli.
QUICK DISCLAIMER: This somewhat depends on your end goal but it’s safe to say most people either want to lose fat, build muscle, improve athletic performance or gain mobility and decrease pain. With that in mind please continue reading”.
Multiple Methods of Training
If you only participate in one form of fitness you’re limiting your potential to reach your goal. If you just do yoga you’re missing out huge on having a faster metabolism, a more capable strong body and a longer life. Yes, recent research suggests that the more muscle mass you have the higher chance you have to live longer and enjoy a better quality of life. If you make it to 90 years old it’d sure be great to get outa the chair by yourself and walk down the street wouldn’t it?
Same goes the other way. I personally love training for max strength and powerlifting, strongman, etc. But if you don’t work on mobility, balanced workouts or mindfulness, you risk injuring yourself or having limited mobility as you age.
That’s the main problem with being in a certain “camp”. There’s no balance, and it’s a shame and a failure in our industry. For general health and fitness you can and should benefit from multiple forms of fitness. So why use a marketing campaign to shove only one thing down someone’s throat till they believe you? Why tell them this is the only way to do it? It’s either because it’s proven in marketing that the more targeted and specific your ads and your product is, the higher chances of sales. OR it’s because the industry is vastly uneducated.
Like most situations, I think it’s a bit of both.
To be fair, there seem to be many more great and educated trainers surfacing in recent years. The fact that personal training and strength coaching as a scientific field is growing and thus producing more knowledgeable people. You could make the argument that social media has helped increase exposure to great trainers and certifications, however, the same can be said for the contrary.. Increased exposure to uneducated trainers or worse - the uneducated fitness enthusiasts who got fit themselves and then use their body to market their shitty one size fits all diet and exercise programs to the masses. And these schemes work far too well.
Holistic Approach To Fitness
At Clear Cut Fitness, we look at the whole picture. We also consider your goals. Something that any cookie cutter program does not. With most people, our program involve different physical qualities to work towards your goals from the ground up. “Start with the foundation as they say”.
Our Personal Training Philosophy
We like to work with our clients and not always tell them what to do. We pay attention to what kinds of methods and exercises work better for you throughout a program and we don’t force you to do anything you can’t.
We Like Giving Options
After working with us for a few months it’s likely that you’ve done a bunch of different exercise variations within the same movement. Let’s use the squat as an example. You might’ve done Goblet squats, Rack Position Squats, Back Squats, Front Squats, Paused Squats, the list goes on. Say you really really like paused back squats and really dislike front squats (probably the least liked squat but just stay with me), we’ll take note of that and try to utilize the back squat variation a little more often as long as we see that you’re getting results with it. However I must admit if you’re an elite athlete you’ve got much less wiggle room. There are some variations that are key for you so suck it up and work hard :).
Another example is a core exercise. We may give you the option of 10 different plank variations and we don’t really care which one you do as long as you do them properly and you’re challenged enough to stimulate results. Exercise variation is KEY so you’ll still need to perform different exercises but we want you to have fun with training and stay mentally stimulated.
We’re Not Bootcamp Drill Sergeants
Oh right, that’s another thing. This boot camp drill sergeant stereotype that people have of personal trainers needs to change ASAP. It’s true that historically many trainers have used this coaching method. But research has clearly shown time and time again that there are far better ways to help your clients achieve their results.
We don’t like the drill sergeant coaching style for many reasons:
The more you try to push and exercise (or a human in general) past the point of technical failure (when the proper form can’t be kept anymore) you’re not only increasing the risk of injury but the effectiveness of the reps decrease A LOT. Your non-targeted muscles start compensating and everything goes to shit - including your dignity.
You’d think the bad ends there but it doesn’t.. Training to total failure also increases your risk of injury. When you’re working with a personal trainer, the last thing you wanna do is get injured! We try to get you to your fitness goals without suffering any injury! A proper training program should actually help you decrease injury at the same time by strengthening weak or disproportionate muscle groups.
Personal Trainers Build Relationships
Mentally, we’re trying to build you up, not break you down. Positive reinforcement, exercise technique cues and some words of encouragement (usually) goes much further than someone yelling in your face (but hey, if that works best for you we can do it too).
We help you understand your body’s tendencies, strengths and weaknesses to help you improve every session.
We help you understand your nutritional habits and guide you towards your goals via different nutritional methods. We don’t force you to learn only one way. We follow Precision Nutrition and they’re different methods. Whether you prefer counting calories, general guidelines, following a meal plan, tips and tricks, we can help you! There’s no one size fits all for nutrition either!
We also understand that you may not be at the top of your game every workout. That’s fine too, showing up for a session is always better than nothing. We can find a work around on a day you’re not feeling so hot. It might be a lighter weight workout, it might be a lower intensity mobility and core session, the point is to still give your body a bit of a stimulus and make you feel great.
So back to the point of the whole article..
What Kind of Training Do We Do?
We use many forms of training to get you to where you want to be. We can utilize many different pieces of equipment and are not limited to only 1 type of exercise. We don’t just do HIIT, we don’t just do powerlifting, we don’t just do battle ropes and random obstacle course bootcamps. We work with you to get you to your fitness goal in the most effective way. Personal trainers form relationships that help coach you towards a goal. Drill sergeants make you feel like sh*t and wanna puke at the same time. Unless you’re a masochist, I’d pick the former.
If you’re interested in personal training, feel free to ask us any questions by emailing info@clearcut-fitness.com or by filling out our client application form by clicking the button below: