Fitness Philosophy
Where Physique Meets Function
At Morales Fit Club, we complete all of favorite fitness approaches and combine them to create well-rounded athletes. The bodybuilding approach no doubt is a great way to pack on lean muscle. However, as we committed ourselves to a bodybuilding program, we noticed it lacked something. We had pretty muscles, but we didn't have functional performance.
Our philosophy is that to be a better athlete, we want to combine physique techniques from bodybuilding, but add in functional lifting, bodyweight exercises, and even HIIT training so that muscles can not only look amazing, but perform optimally.
BODYBUILDING
Bodybuilding is a sport that has always been surrounded by controversy, drugs, and the biggest, buffest people on the planet. For those who decide to embark on it, it is incredibly rewarding to see muscle growth and have fast, visible results; however, there are a few things to keep in mind...
Function
Have you ever had to help someone move? Shift furniture around, drag a deer a mile back to your truck through the snow? Shovel a sidewalk?
If you were sore from this, you are lacking in functional fitness. Probably the most famous approach to functional fitness is crossfit. I admire the athleticism, however; I am not satisfied with just crossfit, because most of the exercises occur in a single plan of motion.
THE NUTRITION
Bodybuilding nutrition is generally macrobased as it is crucial to have protein available and ready to build muscle after intense workouts.
There are two cycles in bodybuilding: bulking and cutting.
Bulking
During the bulking phase, athletes consume up to 500 calories more than necessary to maintain their weight (250 calories from protein and 250 calories from fat).
Cutting
And during cutting or shredding phases, athletes prepare several weeks out, and systematically cut down carbohyrates and calories to reveal all the muscle gained during the bulking phase.
Meal Prep
Once or twice a week, it is incredibly popular, and very helpful (to stay on track) to meal prep. This generally includes preparing your protein, vegetables, and a complex carbohydrate. Because the goal to to eat for purpose, you will find that most people here eat the same things all the time. Seasoning is king since it is a calorie-free option that will help bring flavor to your meals.
There is not a prescribed nutrition approach for functional fitness in general, though the crossfit community is pretty hardcore paleo diet followers (you can read my thoughts on the paleo diet here).
I like something about it, but it doesn't work for the average person, and certainly doesn't work for me. I want a more flexible nutrition approach, but the idea of paleo eating is to eat like our ancestors did.
This entails eating like a hunter-gatherer. Part of my problem with this approach, is that our hunter-gatherer ancestors most likely didn't eat insane amounts of bacon, and because there were hunter-gatherer societies all over the world (example: !Kung, Inuit, Hazda, and Hiwi societies) they all had access and availability to different things. Their diets are composed of vastly different amounts of proteins, vegetables, nuts and seeds. So there isn't one specific paleolithic diet, but many.
In the sport of powerlifiting, you do not have to be as careful as bodybuilding. Which means that you aren't counting calories, or measuring out portions of chicken on a scale because you are not concerned with every single muscle being defined and judge on your body.
Again, with all that in mind, do you see a trend developing here?
THE WORKOUTS
This method is ideal for creating as many microscopic tears in muscle as possible since you are focusing on one muscle group per day. Feeling sore in this case is a REALLY good thing. It means you are putting on, and strengthening muscle.
Bodybuilding workouts are generally set up into splits. For example:
There is a lot more variability with functional fitness workouts. Functional fitness athletes generally powerlift, olympic lift, and focus on training movements. Their focus is on training their body on how to USE their muscles.
If you are the kind of person who gets bored with doing the same thing over and over in a training program, this might be more for you.
Some examples of functional fitness training exericses include: clean, snatches, squats, plyometric exercises (more jumping), sport-specific training, and instability training (core).
CONCLUSION
Bodybuilders don't look good all year round. They peak and have off seasons where they tend to gain weight.
You have to be calorie and diet minded. You will be judged on how much muscle you have, how much of it shows, and how symmetically developed your body is.
Bodybuilders focus on lifts that isolate muscle groups, and therefore; lack functional fitness, strength, and powerlifting abilities.
Crossfit and other functional fitness programs are fun, the exercises are interesting, but alone, this lacks anatomical knowledge and biomechanics, symmetry, and miss out on the fun of a muscle pump.
Functionally fit athletes maintain their weight and bodyfat percentage year round, as they aren't just trying to look pretty and build muscle.
Functional fitness by itself it fun to watch. It's a fun sport to participate in, but, it does not develop symmetry or aesthetics. If you are unfamiliar with it, click here to see our video from NPGL GRID.
We have a combined approach to fitness. We love what the Olympic lifts can do for our bodies (agility, speed, power) but we also enjoy building muscles so that in bikini season, we feel confident, look good, and our clothes fit.
You don't have to choose one other the other. You will be a better athlete overall if you can do everything.