| A few weeks ago, a shiny, new Life Fitness Synrgy360 was set up on the 4th floor of Pottruck, where I teach group fitness classes. This thing is a playground for adults! When I saw it, my first thought was - can I get one for my basement?! After looking up the price, I realized I'm going to be just fine using the one at the gym. I was beyond ecstatic when I heard that Penn Rec was offering a training on this piece of equipment, followed up by small group training sessions and group fitness classes. |  |
Well, the training was this past Monday, and the Synrgy360 is my new best friend! It was a quick training (2 hours) led by a representative from Life Fitness, so I'm definitely not ready to lead a class tomorrow, but she provided the resources we need to get started! Not only does the Synrgy have your typical cable pulls, pull up bar and medicine balls, but it also has a TRX suspension trainer, a TRX Rip trainer, a full set of kettlebells, monkey bars, rock climbing grips, battle ropes - this list just doesn't stop!
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The biggest take-home message for me was to vary your exercises to work all "planes of motion" when training for functional movement, posture and muscle balance. The Life Fitness trainer pointed out that most people tend to stay in the sagittal plane while exercising (up/down movements) - squats, pushups, bicep curls, etc. The Synrgy360 is a great tool to do exercises in those other planes as well!
 mikeirr.com | Two transverse movements in one exercise on the Synrgy360 |
Another great take-home message was the importance of asymmetrical training, which takes the emphasis off of bilateral training (working both sides of the body together). If you're doing weighted squats with a barbell on your back, both legs are working together to push the weight back up to standing. As a result, a dominant side of the body can (and will) do more than its share of the work. Moving from a barbell to a dumbbell shifts the focus so that each muscle has to work on its own, resulting in unilateral training. When you asymmetrically load the body, your weight is now off-balance, and you'll have to engage your muscles (typically your core muscles) to correct for that.
Asymmetric Training on the Synrgy360
| Rip Drive Squat | Lateral Shuffle with 180 Degree Rotation |
| Palloff Press | Rip Overhead Axe Chop |
But, that was just the beginning of the amazingness that is the Synrgy360. There is so much you can do on this piece of equipment, I'm sure we only skimmed the surface in these two hours.
Have you ever used a Synrgy360? What's your favorite exercise to do on it?
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