World Gym Challenge. Train for Performance not Function.

It has been a turbulent year for WGC. Probably since my involvement in Gym Sports, the least productive in terms of promoting Gym Sports as a business model it has been quite disappointing not being able to secure any contracts to date with gyms who would like to see a sport for gyms emerge. The same can be said really for those that have the potential in creating the Sport in Gyms. There has been no movement and radical changes are needed.

What's the plan for 2016?

WGC was never the solution for the creation of Gym Sport, but it was the starting platform to see the Sport grow. In order to do this, there was only one segment needed to bring value to the sport and that was results. It has been unfortunate that nature of results has it seems always been where sport separates, between the value of Training and the balance of events to see the sport grow.

WGC vast wealth of data when analysed can absolutely surmise that Gym Sports and training for a reason (Gym Sport) can have a lasting effect in the development from Gym member to gym athlete and create a culture that can lead to a far better understanding of ones health and fitness if they go to a gym.

So this year, has seen more focus on training protocols that are needed in order to be able to develop into something that can be a more focused approach to gym training. I have to thank all of those who given me the training data to create programs, that pinpoint actual training time per week, and also recovery.

Exercise for Performance not Functionality

The American College For Sport Science and Medicine (ACSM) will recommend Exercise for at least 20 minutes 3 x a week at vigorous intensity and in Gym Sports we set out to achieve this. Not the movement pattern of the body – but exercise, by not wasting a second in the gym.

Developing the correct way to train in any sport is a massive can of worms. One person’s outlook will differ entirely to somebody else’s’ so it becomes really a case of trial and error to see what approach works and what does not. Simply to say , if you do this particular set of skills in the gym, it will enhance your performance is simply not true. If you say if you do this set of skills in the gym over a period of  time, which you can associate with your own desire to succeed in your chosen method, then we may have something that can mature into a healthy long lasting relationship with fitness.

The buzz word of Functional Training has its merits in probably chosen sports across the field of exercise. It can if it tries, focus on an area, that will; with coaching time and effort, develop into at best a rhythm of opportunity that may succeed in adapting muscle recruitment into accumulating the desired effect to enhance performance. But the method will be subjective and varied between individuals. There is no conclusive evidence that actually delivers on its intent when applied to Gym Sports, that functional training will actually do anything useful? It could be argued that it is a complete waste of time. And when the dust settles after the storm the answer is just don't do it, there is no need. Functional Training and Gym Sports do not go hand in hand. In fact Functional Training should remain outside the boundaries of Gym Sports as there is no correlation between the two. Functional Training is good at what it was set out to do, create a parralel of movement and apply it to sport and daily living in exercise. But when that sport is gym based, your time training is spent better focusing on your event.

Don't waste a second in the gym

Gym Sports has a focus on performance time and distance. You are training in a fixed time zone to achieve a desired outcome (normally around 8 weeks) The relevance of training for these protocols do not look at functional movement patterns of the body. It is completely unrealistic to presume that current Functional Training will in some way advance the body to cope with the stress the body is under during exercise . It will not, in fact it would be a waste of energy presuming that in some way, training the body to accommodate the variant movement patterns will increase performance in Gym Sports.

Time spent exercising is a precious commodity. It should not be wasted in looking at training patterns that once learned will lead into false hope of increasing performance in Gym Sports. It is not the movement of the body that increase performance, but the actual performance of the body and how it copes with the stress of exercise. The body is already functional. It has a heart, muscle, lungs and a brain that give send thousands of messages to you throughout your training process and Event to make sure you are adapting to every stress.

Functional Motion and Movement is probably more the area that Gym Sport will look into in the coming years. The Motion that is carried out in Gym Sports creates fatigue and the production of Lactic acid. There is no single pattern and fluid movement that allows you to concentrate on any single or group of muscles to give you the edge throughout the race. You have to adapt and survive as the race goes on.

If the body has developed into a genetic symbol of human movement then wasting time on Functional Movement will not enhance what is already a perfectly formed machine. There is only so many heart beats that one can operate too, and its finding these limitations in Gym Sports, that is the programme we seek.

What can you achieve?

Just how well can you perform in a given series of tests in the gym? What is it that will challenge you to become more improved athlete? What will make you train harder and feel more rewarded? These are the questions will be answered in Gym Sports.

The only way to prove, a measure of success is become accountable to your training method and reasoning. That is why, this year 2015, we have been busy formulating training protocols that will allow you to be more focused in the gyms and not waste a second training. It is far better to have been in the gym and left with a result, then to have turned up and wondered if your functional training has created the desired effect

2016 could be your year to become a Gym Athlete

We look forward to this oncoming year. If there is a gym sport challenge with a date, then WGC will work towards creating a training program for that based on tried and tested methods, of developing the best you can be, not necessarily a winner, but an athlete who once turned up to a gym wondering what to do and how to train, to somebody who is now proficient in training methods of a Gym Athlete.

2016 Bring it on