Think of your muscles as springs. They contract and stretch with every movement. When our muscles contract they create and store energy, and when they stretch they release that energy. Normally, this spring-like nature allows us to bounce and move easily through life without expending a great deal of effort.

 

Traditional fitness routines focus on fast movements and lots of repetitions. These quick, repetitive movement, allow the elastic nature of our muscles to take over. During my years as a personal trainer, I realized that bodies primarily benefit from the contraction phase of most movements.  The stretch phase doesn’t require our bodies to work as hard and doesn’t produce the same results. Plus, most people aren’t sure what muscles they are using, and may even be using the wrong muscles.

 

Traditional fitness routines waste half of your time. That’s why FREEZE is different.

 

As a personal fitness coach, I realized that by slowing down the movement and pausing between the contraction and stretch phases, I could create more effective exercises and achieve better results in less time. Just as importantly, I could help people target, and use, specific muscles to achieve their fitness goals.

 

Using the FREEZE technique, we pause a moment to let our mind and body connect. By stopping between contraction and stretch, the energy created during the first half of the movement releases and the potential for an automatic reflex is canceled. Without that stored energy, your body can’t simply bounce effortlessly through the second half. With FREEZE, your muscles work just as hard during the second phase as they did during the first.  Besides, stopping the movement provides time to target the right muscles intentionally. When you pause and choose specific muscles to power your movement, you can create the body you want.

 

Let’s look at a squat as an example.  Most workout plans include plenty of this fast-paced exercise. Ideally, this exercise works your glutes. Unfortunately, most people naturally use their quadriceps, because they aren’t pausing to establish a mind – body connection.  As you move downwards, your muscles contract and create energy.  That contraction helps to tone, strengthen and develop the muscle. But, the second half of the exercise is the stretch phase, where you move your body upwards out of the squat. In the usual, fast-paced version, you can easily bounce back up. The energy created and stored during the contraction phase allows you to rebound easily. Your body is working less during the second half of the exercise.

 

 

Now let’s look at the same exercise using the FREEZE technique. As your personal trainer, I will guide you to start by intentionally contracting the glutes while standing to establish that mind-body connection. This ensures that you will use the right muscles on the way down. Once you reach the bottom of the squat, you will pause and intentionally squeeze the glutes again. This reestablishes that all-important mind to body connection. Now, you will raise out of the squat by actively using your glutes to power the movement.

 

By being more intentional about our movements, pausing, and working specific muscles groups through every phase of a movement, I will guide you through the most effective workout of your life.

 

You will burn more calories and lose more weight in less time and get in shape faster with the FREEZE technique.

 

But, the physical component isn’t the only benefit to FREEZE.  By stopping the movement and allowing our mind and body to connect, we experience mental and emotional benefits as well. The FREEZE technique encourages you to truly experience movement and to appreciate the potential of your body. FREEZE allows you to become more aware of your body while creating a greater sense of overall wellbeing.