Hydraulic Exercise Equipment Can Be A Boon To Certain Types Of Workouts
Hydraulic exercise equipment is a fairly recent addition to the world of exercise machines. Hydraulic means operated by the pressure created by forcing a liquid such as oil through a narrow orifice. This is how vehicle shock absorbers work, and hydraulic exercise equipment basically uses shock absorbers to provide resistance for strength training.
It is possible to buy hydraulic exercise equipment for the home, but most of its recent popularity can be attributed to its inclusion in a number of different chain fitness centers, most of which are limited to women members only. These chains normally use the hydraulic equipment to perform what's called circuit training.
Circuit training is a form of interval training which was invented in the early 1950's. It consists of strength training exercises interspersed with aerobic interludes, normally with no rest (the aerobic portion is considered to be the rest phase). This form of training is great for fat loss and improving conditioning, but it's not the best form of strength training if you want to add solid muscle mass. Traditional heavy (6-12 reps per set) strength training has been proven to be better for that.
Like any exercise modality, hydraulic exercise equipment has its pros and cons. On the plus side it the fact that it really lends itself to circuit training, because the resistance is targeted to the user. The harder one pushes, thee more the hydraulics resist. Therefore, everyone can get a good workout for their level of strength and fitness without pausing to reset the resistance of the machine. The main negative feature concerning hydraulics is that there is no negative. Hmm, did I just contradict myself? No, what I mean to say is that each weight training exercise traditionally has a positive (raising) and lowering (negative) phase. Hydraulic equipment has no negative phase. The user pushes against the resistance until it reaches the limit, then pulls it back to the start. The traditional negative phase where the weight pushes back at the exerciser doesn't exist with hydraulics. No biggie, right? Who likes a negative anyway? Well, while you may want to stay away from negative people, the negative phase of strength training is thought to be quite beneficial by fitness experts. Some actually think it's more important than the positive phase. Researchers have shown that limiting strength training to negative phase lifting only results in more DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) than when only positive phase lifting is done. Maybe this sounds like a good reason to skip the negative phase of the lift, but scientists postulate that the soreness may equate to more remodeling of the muscle, meaning that the negative phase provides more of the result that people lift weights for. So while it's true that hydraulic exercise equipment can be a viable means of strength training under many conditions, if you're thinking of purchasing it for home use or joining a center that uses it primarily or exclusively, you may want to try it out first and see how you like it.
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