Everyday function is integrated and multi-dimensional, not isolated. Whether you are playing a weekend basketball game, gardening, playing with your kids, or enjoying a mountain hike, your body is moving through multiple planes of motion and all of your muscles are actively involved in the endeavor. In the real world, muscles never work in isolation. And to participate in the activities of life, you must have a marriage of flexibility, strength, endurance, balance and coordination.

Traditional exercises have focused on training isolated regions of the body, often utilizing single, fixed planes of motion. Traditional fitness equipment typically has a fixed pre-determined path of motion which means the user follows the machine to accomplish a very isolated and specific motion and goal. While fixed path selectorized equipment is an effective way to gain muscle mass and develop isolated strength, it does little to prepare users to participate in the diverse activities that exist outside the fitness facility environment.

Functional training on HumanSport provides graduated levels (three phases) of integrated training, bridging the gap between isolated and integrated training programs so that the user can progress based on their physical abilities and their specific fitness goals. Functional integrated training requires tools and solutions that follow the user and the user’s ability level. A powerful tool like HumanSport adapts to the user and provides infinite levels of progression and specificity to dramatically enhance overall flexibility, strength, endurance, balance and coordination.

Functional, integrated strength training programs enhance:

• Total body strength
• Total body dynamic flexibility
• Cardiorespiratory endurance
• Balance
• Coordination
• Core strength
• Postural strength and endurance
• Asymmetrical strength (right to left balanced strength)
• Overall power and force production

The culmination of all of these benefits is the improved quality of life for the participant, enhanced body awareness, and increased performance while enjoying recreational activities or participating at the highest level of competition.

There are fundamental differences between traditional strength equipment and cable-based training. Traditional isolated strength training requires the user to follow a machine’s pre-determined fixed path of motion or the path of motion dictated by gravity as in free weights. Cable-based training is user-defined and allows the client to move in multiple plans of motion unconstrained by machine design or gravity.

Cable-based training provides unlimited programming opportunities due to its ability to provide resistance in multiple plans of motion, at various speeds, and with a variety of user progressions from “stable isolated” to “unstable and integrated.” 

Cable-based training can be used for isolated rehabilitation movements, isolated strength and hypertrophy (bodybuilding) goals, weight loss and heart rate-based programs, sports performance training and a variety of other applications. Optimal cable-based training provides a 2-to-1 ratio lower inertia system for resistance training. This low inertia system (as found in HumanSport) allows for slow, smooth rehabilitation applications or high velocity explosive performance training options with no momentum or “weight stack bounce” associated with traditional strength equipment.

Cable-based training provides the ability to mimic and train in multiple total body movements – lifting, rotating, lunging, pushing and pulling. This type of training can provide resistance in all three dimensions, front to back (sagittal plane), side to side (frontal plane) and in rotation (transverse plane) in the seated or standing position thus accommodating any user’s ability level.

“Life happens in 3D – all movements in day-to-day life including home, work, and sports activities happen in three planes of motion, forward and back, side to side and in rotation. To keep up, your training program must include a 3D approach.”

“Isolated single plane strength training is an important component to any fitness program—especially for aesthetics and hypertrophy (bodybuilding) goals. But, everyone benefits from functional integrated training by enhancing their core strength, balance, coordination, total body power and strength and enhanced aerobic capacity.”

“Cable-based functional training is the ideal tool for achieving almost any goal. This tool allows for isolation training, stabilization core training and dynamic movement. In essence, total body training.”

“Cable-based functional training can be used for bodybuilding, rehabilitation, sports performance, weight loss and specialty programs. It can bridge the gap between traditional strength training and cardiovascular training to achieve any desired goal.”

“HumanSport allows for a truly individualized strength training experience - it accommodates executives, moms, seniors, teens and athletes, they can all use HumanSport, it’s unlike any strength product we’ve seen before”

“HumanSport brings an incredible element of fun into the workout; it allows our trainers to modify the movements, the speed, the balance, the coordination requirements and the overall difficulty of the exercise with their clients. It completely removes the traditional boredom often associated with weight training by giving the client and the trainer unbelievable freedom”

HumanSport™ Base Strength Training
Strengthens individual muscle groups with outside stabilization – this means taking advantage of all the machine stabilization that is available like: seats, back pads, handles and knee supports. The goal is to provide the body with tremendous outside stability so the individual muscle groups can be targeted and isolated to the greatest extent possible. This level of training can serve to create a strong base on which to progress to the Strength Stabilization or Dynamic Training Phases Training. Or, it can be used exclusively for those members with goals related to rehabilitation, hypertrophy or isolated strength gains.

HumanSport™ Core Stabilization Training
Integrates core stabilization and introduces multi-planar and rotational movement – this phase focuses on integrating core stabilization and strength into exercises for targeted muscle groups. For example, Core Stabilization forces the core to work with the chest and triceps muscles during a chest press exercise. Core Stabilization Training removes some of the outside stabilization provided by the machine in the form of seats, back pads, handles and knee supports and introduces asymmetrical and rotational movements. This requires the user to utilize muscles of the core which involve the abdominals, low back, hips and glutes that create the link between upper and lower body strength.

HumanSport™ Dynamic Movement Training
Total body integration developing overall strength, balance and coordination – Dynamic Movement means total body movement with the majority of outside stabilization removed. The user learns and develops the ability to be strong from the ground up. For example, Dynamic Movement forces total body integration and involvement of all muscle groups in the body during a chest press exercise. Primary muscle groups like the chest, deltoids, and triceps work to move the resistance while secondary muscles of the core and lower extremities assist in movement and stabilization for total body strength, enhanced balance and improved total body coordination.