Functional

Gymstick Muscle challenges your body differently to other group exercise classes. Gymstick instructors don’t just focus on working one group of muscles at a time they work your body in a functional manner that follows the way in which your muscle groups naturally move. Gymstick Muscle workouts mimic the natural movements of your body. You will receive a full body workout without the joint stress and muscle strain that you would normally feel after other resistance training programs.

Trios

TRIOS Gymstick Muscle classes use Trios, which has been developed by Gymstick International. Trios are sets of three exercises that progressively increase in intensity by adding more fitness elements such as balance, range of motion and increased joint action. You are free to choose the level of intensity and resistance you apply with each movement. Simple, yet effective!

Core Elements

Unlike other types of group exercise classes, Gymstick Muscle doesn’t require you to have extensive fitness or co-ordination skills to participate. Every time you attend a Gymstick Muscle class, trained and accredited instructors will help you to achieve a successful and safe full-body workout.

MUSCLE ENDURANCE

The whole body is actively involved even though the focus maybe on a specific muscle group. The Trios concept is based on three exercises that are repeated twice. The first (Primary) exercise is the foundation that can be either a compound e.g. a squat, or an isolation exercise e.g. bicep curl. The following two exercises, called Progression 1 and Progression 2, add other levels of challenge to the foundation exercise. As the Primary exercise muscle groups are repeated in each section of the Trios, endurance is developed through the repetition.

MUSCLE STRENGTH

Each section of the Trios is 30 seconds in length and this means that for most exercises there will only be enough time for 8 to 12 repetitions. This repetition range falls within the range that will most likely achieve muscle hypertrophy and strength. This is one of the advantages that Trios has over conventional barbell or muscle conditioning workouts, as these types of workouts focus on the number of repetitions to reach fatigue, thus achieving the goals of an endurance workout.

JOINT STABILITY

Joint stability refers to the activation of the intrinsic muscle groups surrounding the joint. When using Gymstick, the hands and feet are connected and due to the angle and line of pull from the bands it facilitates optimal efficient joint positioning

POSTURE

The bands and the stick provides instant feedback on how the body is positioned because of the downward pull of the bands, so that the client is pulling up against resistance and also depressing scapula. The stick position also demonstrates whether the body is maintaining alignment.

BALANCE

The Gymstick challenges balance by changing the forces on the body by:

• Adding resistance e.g. Hip abduction
• Ability to add movement
• Line of pull is from 4 separate points
• The Gymstick design creates a line of pull is from 4 separate attachment points.
• The Gymstick length creates attachment points that are away from the centre of gravity

COORDINATION

Within each trio there are compound movements that require several joint actions. Multi-planner movement, direction and balance will effectively encourage greater synergy of muscle action.