Efficient = Effective
Efficient: Achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort.
Effective: Successful in producing the desired result.
If you were looking to design a health and fitness program for yourself, wouldn’t you want it to be both Efficient and Effective? Of course! If you were looking to design or redesign your fitness or performance center wouldn’t you want an efficient and effective layout and equipment selection? Of Course! The key to being efficient is not looking to minimize effort, but to minimize WASTED effort. If you can do this, it means you are focussed on the most important, most results producing activities. In turn, that would make your efforts effective and help you produce the desired result. After all, isn’t this the goal? Lets take a look at how this can apply to both facilities and programming.
Facility Design
In recent years there has been a shift in the ways in which operators are designing their facilities. Previously clubs looked to pack in as much equipment as possible. The intent was to give users the ultimate variety in hopes that this would keep them interested and improving. You would often find multiple lines of equipment that generally did the same thing. Equipment manufacturers loved this because they were selling more equipment! It was very costly for operators but it was the way things were done.
As the industry made the shift to more functional style training this started to change. Clubs began to remove equipment in favor of open space and accessories. The upside is a less costly buildout and a facility that is more open and adaptable to new types of training. The downside is that the majority of exercisers - especially new ones - are not ready for this type of training and quickly become intimidated. It may help to attract training clients ( personal and group) but it can have just the opposite effect on the general membership. If you start turning this group off, things can go south quickly. As with most things in fitness and in life, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. It’s wise to eliminate some of the redundancy found in clubs but operators have to be careful to not go too far.
An effective design leaves the basic equipment, selectorized strength and general cardio for the average user. It also incorporates the open space and accessories that the more advanced users tend to look for. However some of these now popular training modalities can have have just the opposite effect in the open spaces. Sure they give the advanced user what they are looking for but often end up requiring even MORE space just so one or two people can exercise!
Two such modalities popular today are flipping tires and battling ropes. Both of these are very effective but from a space perspective they are extremely inefficient! Battle Ropes often require 20-30 feet of space and tires need 20-30 yards just for ONE person to exercise! The desired outcome was to create open space for multiple exercisers to get fit. What you end up with is a place for only a few exercisers and many others left looking for a space to train where they simply aren’t in the way!
At The Abs Company we are focussed on helping facilities strike this balance. Give the members and trainers what they want but ensure that the needs of the facility are being met as well. Namely - helping them offer the results producing routines to the maximum number of clients . Several of our products do just this. Our flagship product - the Ab Coaster - provides an efficient core training exercise. Users have to stabilize and then move through a range of motion. Double the work in the same time! The TireFlip 180? gives all the benefits of tire training in a small space since it doesn’t travel. The patented hinge design allows you to flip the tire back and forth in a contained space. Plus it’s a real tire so you can perform all of the exercises you would on a traditional tire - jumps, burpees, push ups etc! The all new Battle Rope ST? features 6 lb weighted handles which allows us to cut the length of the rope in half! Plus it combines battle rope movements with suspension style training for a space saving and incredibly effective workout!
Program Design
Similarly to facility design, great program design centers around the pillars of being efficient and effective. One of the biggest objections to people starting or maintaining an exercise program is TIME. People feel that they don’t have enough time in their day to devote to an exercise routine. The reality is that there is no more important time you can spend but that’s another discussion. As fitness professionals its important that we give our members and clients routines that they enjoy, but that they can also fit into their busy lifestyles. Countless research reports show the effectiveness of shorter workouts but the trick is to temper the intensity to levels that don’t turn people off! There is an inverse relationship between intensity and time but finding the balance between the two is critical. If a person wants a shorter workout they need to increase the intensity but not to levels where they will stop training all together because its just too hard.
The key to striking this balance is to have exercisers do more multi joint or even total body exercises. Simply put a person flipping a tire is being more efficient than the person sitting and doing a leg extension. They are doing more work in less time and training more muscles and energy systems. Efficient and effective.
Another great example of effective program design is our all new X3S Pro. Inspired by the classic ‘sissy squat’ device and the boxer’s sit up/stand up exercise the X3S Pro allows user to add a stand up to each exercise they perform. Its double the work in a compact design!
At The Abs Company we believe that fitness changes lives! It’s why we do what we do - to Change Lives from the Core! Designing efficient and effective exercise devices takes us one step closer to living our purpose every day.