Functional fittness is designed to prepare your body for everyday living. It focuses on compound movements that force you to engage all of your core muscles and your stabilizer muscles, many of which are not stimulated during traditional weight training.

An example of a functional fitness movement is the step-up. During this exercise you step up on to a platform that’s high enough to achieve a 90- degree knee bend. Then you lower yourself back to the ground on the same leg. Switch sides and repeat. This motion simulates stair climbing or getting up from a kneeling position after playing with the kids or even getting on a chair to change a light bulb.

What can functional fittness do for me?

The greatest benefit of functional fittness is that it helps reduce your risk of injury, not during your workout, but during everyday living. So, if you worry that you’re going to throw your back out at work or that you don’t have the strength to continue heaving your toddler up the stairs everyday, you might want to look into functional fitness.

In addition to minimizing your injury risk, functional fitness also makes life easier as a whole. Every activity that you struggled to do before functional fitness will actually become just a little bit easier. It doesn’t require a whole lot of equipment either. All you really need is your body weight and a few dumbbells and you’re ready to go. If you can invest in it, a Swiss ball is also great for functional ! tness, but it’s not required.

More examples of functional fittness exercises:

For people who are use to doing traditional workouts, going through a few functional ! tness sessions will be an eye opener, because functional training is usually a lot more intense than traditional workout programs. Here are a few exercise variations:

1. Squats. These require you to simply bend your knees to 90-degrees while keeping tight abs and a ” at back and then return to standing upright. The exercise is bene! cial either with or without weights and its usefulness in everyday living is fairly easy to see, as we all sit down and stand up several times a day.

2. Bent rows. These can be done as one arm rows with dumbbells or as two arm rows with a barbell. In this exercise you bend at the waist, keeping your abs tight and your back ” at and your arm(s) hanging straight down. Then lift the weight towards your abdomen by moving your elbow straight up towards the ceiling. Lower it back down and repeat. The functionality of this movement is re” ected in everything from taking out the trash to picking up a laundry basket. We all perform bent lifting movements almost every day.

3. Balance training. Any movement that requires you to use your balance can be considered functional training since we require balance in all that we do. Using a stability ball or a balance board are great ways to improve your balance through functional training. So you see, there are plenty of things that you can do in or out of the gym to train your muscles to work together to support your everyday movements.

Beginning a functional training program, or even incorporating a few days of functional training into your current workout schedule will save you a lot of time, pain and medical bills in the future and it will improve the quality of your life.

The Group Fitness industry in its infancy in the early 1980’s was a colourful, fun and, for some, a ‘camp’ place to be.

The 90’s and beyond has seen a revolution in Group Fitness and the way in which we approach exercising in groups. Today’s industry is professional and well-regulated and for many Group Fitness Instructors around the world, it is career option.

These day’s powerful brand names such as Nike and Reebok attach themselves to the industry as they realise the power of people exercising in groups and needing something stylish to wear.

Today, health clubs offer a large array of group exercise-class options like Spinning (Indoor Cycling), weight training (BODYPUMP and circuit training), Cardio Fitness (freestyle aerobics, BODYATTACK), conditioning classes (Step, BODYSTEP), Martial-arts based workouts (BODYCOMBAT, TaeBo, Boxercise) along with the ever popular mind/body workouts of Yoga and Pilates.

For some, this may seem like a maze, but proper screening of an individual’s exercise goals quickly allows fi tness professionals to guide people into the right classes.

So why has group fi tness become so popular? The answer is that group exercise offers affordable, professional guidance. Many people can’t afford one-on-one personal training, so group classes are a great alternative. Whether it’s learning proper form or just being motivated, group classes offer the direction, education and encouragement so many people need.

Another reason why group exercise works is that it is entertaining. Good instructors lead you through routines that keep you thinking and moving all the time and challenging your body involves challenging your mind.

The classes have the greatest and latest music as back-up for instructors intent on giving participants a fantastic, effective workout experience. Unlike watching the clock countdown on a treadmill, or meandering with very little motivation from machine to machine around the gym, fi tness classes leave very little time to even notice your watch!

Fitness classes also get the job done. There is much anecdotal evidence to back this from a physical standpoint, but also from a mental standpoint.

There are many studies outlining the benefi ts of structured physical activity along with the benefi ts received from the ‘feel-good’ endorphins released during physical activity. There is no doubt the ‘feel-good’ endorphins will help squash or at least help balance, stress in your day.

Results will always vary depending on a participant’s ability, current fitness level and personal needs and goals. Also taken into account are the participant’s limitations. So within a professionally- run group fitness timetable, there will be potentially the perfect class or classes or combination of something for everybody.

Men and women, kids and teens and those with special needs are all catered for in a modern group fi tness facility. Much has been written about childhood obesity and certainly starting kids on a structured routine to create habit is certainly a good thing.

At the other end of the scale, just because you have retired from work doesn’t mean retirement from life. Group classes are geared towards all age groups. The hardest part will be encouraging yourself self to walk into a club to participate.

The embarrassment will soon subside into laughs and giggles at your initial clumsiness, or as some say, your three feet! The camaraderie with your fellow participants will build week by week and soon you have new friends to acknowledge in the club, or to have a post-exercise smoothie or coffee with.

Once you get passed the initial fears and decide to give a class a try, the embarrassment of having people watching you is what drives you to want to perform better and better each class. The reality is that everyone else is too worried about their own performance to be concerned with yours! The group setting is what helps push you further than you would ever push yourself training alone.

If you’ve been thinking of joining a gym and starting an exercise program, then you should give group fitness classes a try. With more options than ever before, it is a fun, affordable and effective way to get and stay in shape.

Keep an eye out for the opening of Sunset Fitness, Bali’s newest gymnasium bringing you the latest and greatest in fi tness. www.sunsetfitnessbali.com

We know it’s an unrealistic standard, but with more and more celebrities turning to cosmetic surgery to enhance their physique, who hasn’t given some thought to a little nip and tuck?

The quick-fix approach has its appeal. But it’s not the only way to get the body of you want and while going under the knife may change the way you look on the outside, it does little to improve the way your body functions on the inside.

So how can you get a lasting lift? Exercise, of course and where better to start than at Sunset Fitness Bali.

On a purely cosmetic level, at Sunset Fitness you can tackle “spare tires,” back fl ab, wobbly tummies, “bingo wings” and thunder thighs with specialist exercise innovations and latest technology equipment.

And unlike drastic measures like plastic surgery, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg! But exercise also offers amazing psychological benefits that you really can’t get any other way. It boosts your mood and your confidence, improves mental alertness, reduces stress and tension, and sends your self-esteem through the roof! It’s not just all in your mind either.

It’s logical that by doing something good for your body will make you feel good about yourself, but physical activity actually triggers chemical activity in the brain, too.

When you work out, your brain releases ‘happy chemicals’ which produce feelings of contentment, reduces stress and depression, and even helps strengthen your immune system.

Sound pretty convincing? It gets better! Not only does exercise directly produce ‘feel-good’ effects in your mind and ‘look-good’ effects in your body, there are further indirect benefits to working out.

We all need an outlet in our lives; some time to ourselves when we can reflect and rebalance and exercise creates the necessary structure in your day to allow yourself time to do this. Your gym workout or exercise class is an important distraction from everyday sources of stress, which dramatically improves your ability to cope with problems effectively and make positive life changes.

Another indirect benefi t is that muscle tension tends to be reduced by exertion from a good workout, which naturally promotes feelings of relaxation and calmness.

So before you turn to the knife here’s a few more psychological benefits of exercise to turn over in your mind first.

CLEAR YOUR MIND

When you’re feeling stressed and tired at the end of a hectic day, exercise is often the last thing on your mind. But ironically, it is exactly what you need.

Often we are drained from mentally or emotionally exhausting workdays, but without a physical outlet for our emotions, tensions simply build up in our bodies making us feel worse!

The answer? Get your heart beating happily again Spinning, Body Pump or Body Vive classes are guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

IMPROVE SELF-CONFIDENCE AND IMAGE

Regular exercise is soon rewarded with positive physical changes, which gives you a sense of pride in your accomplishment and reinforces your motivation to continue.

But you don’t have to go it alone! You can get results faster and more effectively with a Personal Trainer. Experts in their fi elds, our highly-trained Personal Trainers can tailor an exercise programme that fi ts your goals exactly, providing additional encouragement and insight every step of the way, helping you stay focused and avoid training plateaus.

BOOST YOUR MOOD

Slipping onto the sofa, switching the TV on and then ‘switching off’ for the evening is all too often on our weekly agenda. But this type of sedentary lifestyle actually stifl es your creative energies and flattens your mood, making you more prone to lethargic tendencies and low motivation.

Instead, by engaging in regular exercise and getting involved in fun group activities in a sociable environment, you’ll develop a happier, healthier outlook on life, fi nd new interests, make new friends, and embrace new experiences that will almost certainly pass you by otherwise.

INCREASED MENTAL ALERTNESS

It is widely understood that stress and fatigue negatively affect concentration, comprehension and memory. And since exercise is one of the most effective ways of alleviating stress, regular workouts will enhance alertness and improve overall mental and physical health.

Spinning and Body Vive offer a particularly effective class format to concentrate on building mind/body strength simultaneously–which has a pronounced effect on mental agility and performance, while reestablishing the connection between mind and body.

Sunset Fitness is taking Bali’s fitness industry to a new level. The facility will open with Les Mills group fitness (RPM, Bodypump, Bodystep, Bodybalance, Bodyattack), a cardio theatre, personal training, bootcamps, teen blasts, detoxifi cation programs, weight challenges, general nutrition, and more.

Sunset Fitness has created customized group fitness classes tailored to their clientele. This new generation of fitness classes are already making an impact around the world and will now be available in Bali.

You’re chugging up hills. You’re blasting through mountains. You’re skimming through waterfalls.

You change speeds just as you and your comrades prepare to to take on the world. And just think, it all takes place in the comfort of your aerobics room.

Spinning is just the newest fad for fitness fanatics, a bizarre blend of cardiovascular activity and wild imagination geared at packing the fun into your everyday workout.

Just one glance into the aerobics room during a spinning class will convince you of its electrifying appeal.

Group indoor cycling classes are one of the best exercise activities that you can participate in. People with all levels of fi tness and endurance can benefit from these workouts.

Indoor cycling classes are great alternatives to aerobic classes that require you to run on a treadmill, which can cause discomfort for some in the leg muscles and joints.

There are no complicated movements that you must learn to enjoy this exercise program. Cycling is a low impact exercise that almost anyone can do and participation is not reliant on a preset fitness level or ability. It is an activity anyone can join.

Indoor cycling classes are lead by an instructor and incorporate high-energy music for added motivation. The instructor will guide you through the cycling session, indicating what resistance and speed you should try to achieve.

Much of the appeal of a particular Spinning classes lies with the instructor’s effectiveness, of course. A highly motivating instructor with a colorful imagination can provide the participants with the most riveting of sessions.

Another perk to Spinning, particularly for newcomers, is that it is not a difficult activity. Unlike the step classes, you do not need to learn any specialized moves. You just plop down onto a cycle and start chugging away.

Also, because the activity is virtually stress-free on your joints, it is appealing to athletes and trainers who are injury-prone.

There is no doubt that Spinning can give you a great full-body workout, especially throughout the muscles in your legs and buttocks.

On the other hand, because it does not require tremendous athletic coordination, it is starting to catch on with a wider variety of workout fanatics.

For first time participants, the instructor must help set up the cycle properly. As a general guide, the cycling resistance pressure is controlled by a knob below the handlebars. If the knob is turned to the right, the pedaling resistance increases. Conversely, if it is turned to the left, the resistance decreases.

The cycling session begins with an easy warm-up. As your heart rate and breathing starts to increase, the instructor begins the session of simulating hill climbs and interval work.

For hill climbs, the instructor will have the class increase the resistance of the cycle, simulating the effort you would encounter as you pedal up an increasingly steep hill.

Interval work will require fast pedal revolutions for a specific amount of time as if you are sprinting. Each of these exercises are incorporated into the session to build leg strength, endurance and overall fitness.

Note that the effort you do should be only as much as your body can endure. Some come to the classes to work out extremely hard and others are just beginning their quest for better fitness and may not be in top condition. You should only work as hard as you can and not try to compete with the person next to you.

Most indoor cycling classes last around 45 minutes. Instructors will generally have you ride at least two hill climbs and perform two interval groups. A cool down of five minutes on the cycle follows the climbing and interval work. A simple and quick stretching routine typically ends the session.

A group indoor cycling class is a fantastic way to exercise in a fun, low-impact and high-energy environment. Strength, endurance and overall fitness can be achieved with regular sessions on the indoor cycle.

Check out the latest in Spinning and join a class at Sunset Fitness in Bali

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