The 21st century is an age where man is making great advancements. In technology, we are experimenting with quantum physics and particle collisions at the Hadron Collider, we witness the discovery of new planets to man making expeditions to Mars, and in health and medicine we saw DNA mapping, organ and limb transplants, brain and eye surgery and total eradication of numerous diseases.
Despite all these discoveries and advancements in medicine and technology, one area that remains unchanged since early humanity is fitness.
In my opinion, the modern age of fitness started in the 1950s with the development of the first treadmill. In the 1960s, the world was taken by storm with Muhammad Ali getting people to "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee". In the 1970s, the world started to watch Jane Fonda's aerobic workouts and Bruce Lee's kung fu. In 1977, people at home got to see bodybuilding for the first time with Pumping Iron, the cult film which featured names who became Hollywood icons figures in the years to follow.
As scientists discovered new limits in movement and range, it led them to introduce even more impressive and innovative fitness machines. However, despite all this, the fact remains that we must work just as hard as our ancestors to maintain a healthy body. No machine or gadget can truly substitute physical activity. We have just kept, renamed and recreated some of the activities performed by our ancestors.
Yoga goes back 26,000 years when people practiced it as way of life to help achieve inspiration and enlightenment. Today the majority of the western world practice yoga during a quick lunch break in an attempt to lose a few extra pounds. Pilates I would describe as the fine evolution of many disciplines, with intensity and focus applied in isolation, controlled breathing and movements similar to martial arts without the aggression and the explosion of movement.
The fitness machines replicate the body's natural movements creating resistance, an opposite force working against our muscles with different levels of resistance. Exercise machines are designed to replicate the natural environment, from flat plains, to hills, to more rugged terrains. The most sophisticated machines are nothing more than a simulation of what we have in nature, let me give some examples in more detail:-
The Treadmill: simulates walking or running action without having to suffer the weather conditions!
Cross Trainer, Air walker, Elliptical trainer: simulates the action of crossing over shallow water, mud or snow terrain. This was a daily activity for hunting, to escape a predator or simply migrate to a new land.
Stepper: the stepping action goes back to the early stages of human evolution. It started with walking up hill until man invented steps and began building temples, pyramids and other historical monuments.
Rowing Machine: had its origin in the era of sea exploration when slaves were used in the galleys to row gigantic boats to the rhythm of drums.
Bike: one of the most recent inventions created in the 19th century, originally used by the elite of the time as a form of transport.
Resistance Machine: Replicates the physicality of manual labor such as building work, wood chopping, pulling cables and carrying rocks.
Free Weights: replicated any weights lifted and carried by slaves, laborers or farmers.
Any natural movement can be improved by creating a progressive resistance either by the use of a machine or your own body weight. This resistance challenges the body, forcing it to readapt to a new environment.
Using a combination of our ancestral and modern day principles, the 'Macedo System' uses a multi-joint exercise that forces the body to fire the muscle into different sequences each time, thus creating a new working pattern with each movement and stimulating an astonishing full body workout. This system can be integrated to many other systems such as compound and plyometric. Compound resistance engages a few big muscle groups at the same time, whereas Plyometric is the contraction of muscles executed in a big explosive movement. The more muscle involved the more calories you burn.
The human body is very complex and in some ways we are only just starting to learn more about it due to advancements in medical science.
On the other hand the mechanics of the human body are very simple. Keep within your own body limits by paying attention to any red flags being raised! By this I mean sharp pain or any discomfort during exercise. Any exercise can cause a little discomfort but you will find there is a huge difference between muscle soreness from working out and a pain that can be a sign something is not right. Learn to listen to your body and gradually break your own fitness frontiers.
With so many training systems on the market, it can be very difficult to choose the right one, my suggestion is pick the one you enjoy doing the most. It has been statistically proven that people tend to stick to a routine when they enjoy doing it!