Gravity Fx Fitness

This was a question I got recently from a 15 year old who had tagged along for his aunt’s training session. She was training with another 50 something friend and another man in my studio on a Saturday.

He is currently doing typical barbell lifts such as the bench press and squat and didn’t quite understand my training methods, which make use of sandbags, suspension trainers like the TRX, resistance bands, ropes and dumbbells.

I have a barbell tucked in a corner, which I use with some clients as a leverage press, but other than that, no barbell lifts.  At one point he asked her if they bench.  We do some dumbbell bench presses on a flat bench or on a stability ball, but my preference is some kind of pushup variation or presses using a flex band, in a standing position, which trains core stability.

Many people tend to think of barbells and dumbbells when “lifting weights” or some weight machine, like a lat pulldown.  When you realize that the point is to challenge your muscles with some type of resistance, than that resistance can take the form of your own bodyweight, sand, flex bands, or whatever.

He talked about doing weight training and I mentioned using heavy sandbags and how they can feel much heavier than a barbell.  He then picked a 140 pound sandbag off the floor using the parallel handles and found out what I was talking about.

A little later he asked me directly, “do you lift weights?”  Presumably, because I look like I do some resistance training (hopefully).  I told him I used to do all my training with barbells and dumbbells but now stick to what you see in my studio and think the results are about the same, with fewer injuries.

Obviously, if you are training for some type of strength competition that involves lifting weights, you need to train that way, but if you are just training for general fitness, general strength and fat loss, the previously mentioned tools work just fine, at least my clients think so.

When using sandbags, suspension trainers, bands and ropes, there are an almost unlimited number of exercise combinations that can be used.  Besides getting great results, this also prevents boredom from setting in.  Lack of time and boredom are the two biggest excuses people have for not exercising, so this is another reason for these methods.

Here are some of my 50 something clients who have lean, muscular bodies and can do all the physical activities they want with no problems.  They are happy with the results they get and it doesn’t hurt when someone in a store asks them how they got their arms in that kind of shape.

When they tell them about my studio it makes me feel good as well.  Proper nutrition goes a long way, also, but resistance training does a body good no matter what your age or gender you are.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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