So what’s going through my head when I am programming your BEFIT group personal training sessions?

Well, I like to stand behind the phrase

Group personal training

It even says it on our business cards….

See some gyms or fitness classes in Langley may say they offer group personal training, but we actually do it.

And I can speak for what I have in the pipeline for you, it’s only going to get better…

More personalized. More analytical. More results oriented… (in a fun and positive group setting of course :))

With that said, I believe that the most effective training program is the one that fits your psychological profile…

Yep, so I ask you, are you neural driven, muscle driven or structure driven?

These are terms used to define what gives you the greatest motivation or satisfaction from your workouts.

Because, we have 2 objectives with getting you maximum results at BEFIT:

1. Training as hard as you can.
2. Remove weaknesses.

And in order for you to train as hard as you can, you have to be focussed and you have to be motivated by your program. Because the more motivated you are, the more likely you are to consistently train hard.

Therefore, you should be training concurrently with your psychological preference…

There are 3 psychological preferences:

• Neuro
• Muscle
• Structure

These explained…

Neurally Driven

Someone who is neurally driven needs that to be satisfied in their training.  That means moving the most weight from point a to point b. You are not motivated by muscle activation or feeling the pump in your muscles, because what is stimulating the most to you is moving heavy weight… This works well in big compound movements, but even in isolation work, you are more effective at building muscle when you do db cheat curls with a little body English, because you are satisfying that neural drive by lifting the most weight you are capable of.

This plays well within the demands of the ATP-CP energy system which is more of a neurally dominant energy system in short explosive big lifts (and thus why your body needs so much rest between sets).

I spoke extensively about this here: https://thebootcampeffect.com/optimize-your-fat-loss-why-traditional-cardio-sucks)

Muscular Driven

This type needs to feel that strong mind-muscle connection during training. If you don’t feel the muscle activate it will affect your motivation. You need to feel that burn and that pump in the muscle as your “workout reward” and this works well within the confines of the glycolytic system comprising of 20-70 secs of maximum time under tension type of work.

Sidenote Definition – time under tension means how long your muscles are under tension during the exercise, for instance @ 3 down is more time under tension than @ 1 down when you see this written on the whiteboard in your training sessions.

Tangent Time…

You will feel best when working within the parameters of your psychological preference. (Which is actually determined by your natural neurotransmitter dominance – an article for another time 😉 ).

And yes, we can play around with this within the context of your workouts…

For example, if you know you are neurally driven, time under tension doesn’t matter as much, if you are muscle driven, feeling that muscle activate and burn is more important with a slow tempo.

Work within your training and you will feel better, more satisfied, and more motivated from your workouts.

Because, if you don’t feel good, it kills your motivation, if you have no motivation, you don’t train as hard, when you don’t train as hard, you don’t get results, and when you don’t get results, you then lose motivation. It’s a vicious cycle.

Structure Driven

These individuals are naturally more insecure, more cautious and anxious. They tend to be very good planners that don’t like unexpected events. You will be more motivated by mastering movement or technique and really feeling in control of the exercise. You are not motivated as much by adding more weight (which might actually be demotivating ), until you feel movement perfection and precision. If you have an approach of strength training and lifting heavier for lower reps, it will make you more anxious and out of control, as it is fighting your psychological profile which increases cortisol and possibly causes less progress. This type technically works better within the aerobic system 71 secs + as you are working on a movement for a longer duration and attaining a mastery of the movement while training aerobic power/capacity.

And I’ve planned this within our training sessions at BEFIT….

Yep, even though we suggest for people on their first day to do the fundamentals level just so we can analyze your movement patterns and develop a strong base with some general physical preparedness in low risk high reward exercises, the BEFIT workouts have been structured as follows:

• Neurally driven individuals – befit level (lift heavy things)
• Muscular driven individuals – fitness level (time under tension)
• Structured driven individuals – fundamentals (learning technique with safer movements that are less technical to master).

Of course as you progress and develop within our system, you may find yourself as a structured individual at the fitness level… And this usually plays well as we typically increase the load of a movement that you are already technically proficient with and then add a slower tempo into the movement to increase the intensity.

Fundamentals and Fitness play well into each other with this respect, as we can usually use the same exercise and modify slightly according to the individual’s technique, motor control, and strength.

The Befit level has a higher mobility and strength prerequisite and thus you may see the format different of that from the other 2 levels.. You generally see more challenging movements, so keep in mind, if you are a muscular driven person doing the befit level, all you have to do is slow the exercise down and create more time under tension so that you can feel the muscle work harder and you will get more of what you need from your workouts.

If you are new to us and like to throw around heavy weight due to your neural nature, we would suggest taking a step back for the short term, so that our coaches can approve your technique and give you the go ahead. And of course, you can always do fundamentals and/or fitness with a quicker tempo and heavier weight to “light up” that neural system for you.

Committed to your success,
Josh Saunders
BEFIT.
Lifestyle. Strength. Performance.
Langley Times Readers Choice Favourite Personal Trainer 2017

P.s. Here is a table to guide you on which level is right for you:

P.p.s. After reading all this, if you are wondering what level to do, the most logical answer is the same as you have been doing! We’ll let you know if we need to adjust anything!

If you are someone wanting to try us out for a 2 week trial. You can schedule your complimentary consultation here.