Brown Athletic

The concept of an "athletic workout" is gaining visibility and popularity as an alternative to traditional gym workout routines. The idea of the bulky muscle-bound physique is no longer popular. (Was it ever?) In fact, when most people visualize their workout goals, they see themselves with a well-proportioned body, that's slim and well-toned, that feels good to move in, and has energy, strength and agility. Most men, and some women, also see themselves with a healthy amount of muscle that's visibly well defined and functional, without being exaggerated and unattractive. In other words, most people working out are trying to achieve an athletic-looking physique.

Now consider that most traditional men's workout and women's workout routines consist of either long, tedious cardio "fat burning" sessions, or laborious weight lifting sessions focused on developing isolated muscles. Often, people alternate between both types of workout, in order to both lose weight and develop strength. However, despite their popularity, these sorts of workouts rarely produce the trim, muscular athletic results their practitioners are hoping for.

Most people doing weight-training routines don't visualize themselves as a bulky bodybuilder or beefy strongman (or strong woman!). But despite this, most weight-training programs are essentially modified bodybuilding programs, designed to isolate and develop individual muscles, rather than build overall strength and agility. Even though most people don't want to look like body builders, they're doing bodybuilding workouts. Not only is this the wrong type of workout for their goals, but in order for body building to work it requires a large investment of time, and a very specific and intensive diet that is impractical or unappealing for most people.

Similarly, while being slim is obviously preferable to being overweight, most people don't want to be scrawny. Even if they do have the time to do a lot of long fat-burning cardio sessions, as well as the discipline to eat a very low calorie diet, they may achieve their fat-loss goals, but not have developed the strength and physique they also wanted, which is no surprise since they've not done the muscular training, nor have they provided their body with the nutrients needed to develop it.

Yes, there are certainly some people who do in fact want to be body builders, and there are plenty who are just satisfied doing long cardio and starving themselves to lose weight. But most people are stuck in the wrong kind of exercise routine. People who are focused on getting an athletic figure and physique would benefit from a type of workout program that that is optimized to achieve this result as quickly and effectively as possible. These people are increasingly turning to the athletic workout style of exercise program.

So what distinguishes an athletic workout program from other approaches? Â An athletic workout program typically has these sorts of features:

Movements that work on multiple muscle groups at a time.
Movements that stimulate both muscle and cardio development, developing both strength and stamina.
Movements that are more likely to have practical value in sports, leisure, and other everyday activities. They tend to omit or de-emphasize isolated and unnatural movements such as abdominal crunches.
Intense workout sessions that don't waste time. (This has the added benefit of being more likely to fit into a person's schedule and deliver results without taking over their life!)
A variety of exercises that change regularly, saving the practitioner from boredom, and keeping their body continually challenged to avoid hitting a plateau.
A diet that provides the energy to fuel the workouts and nutrients needed to reshape the body.

If you're interested in learning more about this approach to working out, or interested in starting an athletic workout program, you will find an increasing number of resources available online, including programs offered for sale, and discussions of the athletic approach in review sites and articles.

Cheers,

-Rob