How We Approach Strength

Perhaps one of the most common and force-fed trends in the fitness industry is that you need to change the exercises in your program every 4 weeks or so in order to keep progressing, otherwise your body will "get used" to what you're doing and stall out.

While there are proponents of a training program that may need to change such as the volume, intensity, density, and frequency, exercises themselves are perhaps the least important of all to change.

At Holistic Fitness, our major training philosophies surround practicing the basics every single day you step foot into our gym. Our beliefs are that you will get stronger by being very consistent and diligent to the basics, which carry over far better than most exercises do into life, sport, and future training endeavours.

There will never be a time where you do not practice the following:

1. Squat

2. Hinge

3. Push

4. Pull

5. Single leg work

6. Loaded Carries

7. Get Ups

Of course, we can sprinkle in other exercises that may be required for the individual, but for the most part the above list is all anybody ever needs to get strong and remain healthy. There'll be differences in the programming itself depending on the goal for each person, but all of the above will be in the program in some way.

The secret to getting stronger is in relentless practice of technique and the skill of what you're doing. We could easily perform one type of hip hinge for a whole year, and everyday we do that exercise we get just that little bit better at it. It's a journey that will never have a final destination. There's always something to learn and that's where the excitement of training comes from. Not from changing from a trap bar deadlift to a barbell deadlift, but from mastering what you're doing.

KAHUI STRENGTH

Our main strength training system is called Kahui Strength. The main beliefs discussed above are put together to make this program, and we drive home these points with our members.

Every time someone comes to one of our classes, they will find themselves either "practicing" or "performing" the movements we have selected. This is an important difference to understand, because it will determine what mindset they take towards the session and the intent behind it.

On practice days, the loads are submaximal and everybody gets through the lifts with as close to perfect technique as they can produce. On performing days, we will drop the volume and boost the intensity and the client will experience the fruits of their consistent and regular practice.

We strive to continually improve at the basics and become masters of the movements. It's always so interesting when a client comes from another training system where they're performing a huge number of different lifts all the time. They become jacks of all trades, masters of none. Our members become so technically proficient at the basics that branching out into different exercises becomes 100 times easier, and they will pick up the techniques very quickly.

The old saying goes;

"Fear not the man who practices 1000 kicks once, but the man who practices 1 kick 1000 times."