will have to try to not be long winded. lol

so "back in the day" i was a fast, but very skinny runner.. after high school i quit running and started lifting. I got stronger and put on some size. the workout routine we did back then (almost 30 years ago) are basically identical to what is being used in the majority of box gyms. they give you a "warm up" of 10-15 minutes on a treadmill, then the workouts are full body 2-3 days a week for beginners, and when you progress they will break it up so you can workout more often. the typical way to break up the full body is to work a "push-pull" routine, so you work pushing (chest, shoulders, triceps) one day, Pulling the next day (back and biceps) the next day and legs the third day.

Things do change and evolve, and one of the camps is called "functional movement". you basically work the body in a more natural way.. more body weight and free weights, and basically zero use of machines. you do a dynamic warmup that involves active stretching, and then move into the power moves that work the body in its natural planes of movement.. pushing things, pulling things, lifting, turning, stretching, etc. there are different levels, on what i consider the extreme, they advocate almost all exercise with unstable surfaces. the body has to work at not only lifting the weights but to balance at the same time. I think what my gym, and most of the speakers at the summit, advocate is firmly in the middle. using various weights (dumbbells, barbells, sandbags, kettlebells, battle ropes, etc.) some destabilization using TRX, etc. but also generation of power and explosive power.

there is also a large number of the people that NEVER recommend steady state cardio. Alwyn Cosgrove (co-author of "the new rules for lifting" and other books) wrote a great article called the "hierarchy of fat loss". It basically outlines the calorie burn, time to execute and fat burn potential of various exercises, and he breaks it down by the most time efficient to least time efficient. in summary, if you have a small amount of time per week (1-3 hours) you should be doing HIT (High Intensity Interval Training), if you have a bit more time, you should do HIT and add conditioning consisting of sprints, or short burst work..for example, get on a spinning bike, crank up resistance and haul butt for 30 seconds, followed by a 30 second rest (stop pedaling completely).. I am frequently in hotels, and will do sprint intervals on the treadmill for my conditioning. the LEAST EFFECTIVE at fat burning is steady state cardio. the stats in in his article, but I believe that high intensity intervals burn NINE TIMES more calories than steady state cardio. they do say that if you just enjoy running, or biking, then feel free to do that on your off days, but Not in place of your lifting.

My wife can testify about how much it pushes you.. she tried her first Alwyn Cosgrove workout last week and commented on how good of a workout it was, not just a muscle burn but a test for your whole cardiovascular system as well. BTW. she is one that LOVES to run and will not give that up, but just does it a couple of times a week because its fun.

Some of the stuff at the summit got pretty technical, talking about how the body moves, some typical dysfunctions in movement patterns, etc. If we get together for lunch or dinner sometime, Janie and I can talk about this in detail and answer any questions you might have.

Hope that was not too boring. lol
Mike