Software for a Hard Body

American Fitness, Sept, 1999 by Gina White

New Flex Rx™ software offers solutions to the problems associated with designing an effective personalized fitness regimen.

We all need to get things off our chests now and then, right? Rocco Boulay is no different, except for the fact he turned that urge into competition. The phrase "getting it off your chest" takes on new meaning when the weight is an actual 500 pounds teetering on your pectorals. Boulay's efforts led him to claim the title of World Champion Bench-Presser--five times.

Now he is sharing his total body fitness training methods through a computer software program he developed called Flex Rx™, which recently received the number one fitness software rating in America by Precision Nutrition in Tennessee.

While attaining his degrees in exercise science and fitness and rehabilitation, Boulay was nominated four consecutive years to the National Dean's List, astonishing professors. Those professors, along with doctors and therapists, are recommending the program to their students and patients, who are receiving tremendous results.

Why is that? The four components of health and fitness as defined by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) are muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility and body composition. Flex Rx addresses all of these areas and facilitates the user's understanding of their importance as well as designing a specific weight training program. It also computes their target heart rate so they know exactly how much intensity is needed while performing aerobic activity.

Dr. Christopher Saffici, assistant professor of physical education at Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, and Dr. Barbara McCahan, professor of fitness and nutrition at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire, conducted an eight-week study with students to rate the effectiveness of Flex Rx. Upon conclusion of the study, all subjects made considerable strength gains ranging from 18 percent to 33 percent. All were evaluated prior to the study using the Flex Rx assessment test to calculate individual strength capacity.

Boulay claims this test is key in determining a successful training regimen. Based upon their initial fitness ability, the program designed a protocol utilizing each subject's potential. Along with increased strength and muscularity, all subjects enjoyed the program's simple step-by-step progression.

"Rocco has done a lot of research to back up his product. From what I have witnessed, I would highly recommend Flex Rx simply because it works," says Dr. Saffici.

Although Boulay's career as a powerlifter is impressive, Flex Rx isn't geared only for the bulging-eyed, grunting athlete but for the average man or woman who wants to look better and feel stronger. Because no two persons' fitness levels are identical, Flex Rx provides a user-friendly interface that allows anyone to effectively design his/her own unique fitness program.

Exercise physiologist Amy Knittel agrees that Flex Rx is simple enough to be used by everyone. Knittel claims her clients noticed results in as little as two weeks on the program. The regimen customizes routines according to the individuals' varying baseline abilities. The product is also a real asset to have because it cuts the paperwork in half, allowing trainers to keep information for hundreds of clients accessible with a click of the mouse. This, in turn, provides more quality time for trainers to teach clients the importance of health and fitness. "Rocco is very knowledgeable and I believe many people will benefit from using this program," Knittel says.

Boulay points out that developing a fitness program for a client must include looking at the experience level of the individual. "As a person's level of fitness improves, their ability to make gains diminishes. A beginner can do almost anything and get some kind of result due to many neurological adaptations that take place. In intermediate and advanced athletes, most of these nervous system changes occur at the muscular level."

In other words, as the experience level increases, the window of opportunity to make gains decreases. This is why many people hit a plateau in their training and don't achieve greater gains. Flex Rx allows for these changes and revises the formulas to optimize each person's program regardless of their beginning fitness level. Michael Ashley, IFBB Mr. Universe and Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic winner, says, "The Flex Rx program can be utilized to progressively train beginners toward intermediate and advanced levels of muscular fitness."

Take, for example, Shawn Lang, a 25-year-old semi-pro football player from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who says he's been lifting weights since he was 16 but never made such drastic improvements until finding Flex Rx. He says, "Flex Rx is a rock solid bodybuilding program on a CD. As for strength gains, I went from a 345-pound bench press to a 400-pound bench press in just eight weeks--that's a 55-pound increase!"

As a world champion power lifter, Boulay utilized the formulas in Flex Rx to attain maximum strength while not over-training. Overtraining leads to minimal gains and burnout, a condition that is not conducive to any fitness plan. Dr. Barbara McCahan adds, "The formulations that Rocco developed in Flex Rx are unique because they streamline the workout into a split routine that optimally trains each muscle group, enabling busy, active people to get the desired results."

Over-training and under-training can have a detrimental effect on fitness gains. Finding the range for each individual's training stimulation is critical when designing a program. Boulay says the secret to peak fitness is knowing the steps to achieving it. Nutrition plays a vital role because consuming the proper amount of calories along with the correct ratios of macronutrients (e.g., proteins, fats and carbohydrates) is key to performance and results. Flex Rx guides the person in figuring out what their specific caloric intake should be, a factor which is critical to achieving lead body mass.

Cardiovascular fitness is also a necessary component because it keeps the heart and lungs healthy and helps promote caloric expenditure. However, since an average aerobics session typically burns between 400 and 600 calories, you would have to do about six sessions of aerobics to lose just one pound (one pound of fat contains about 3,500 calories)--proving aerobics alone are not enough for overall fitness.

Flexibility exercises are also included on the Flex Rx software. Stretching should be performed before and after exercise to reduce injuries and assist in the recuperation process. Flex Rx contains a complete fitness guide that illustrates different stretching, weight training and aerobic exercises that comprise a complete exercise program.

But probably the most important attribute of Flex Rx is its ability to design a training program for muscle strength and endurance. Until the birth of Flex Rx, it was almost impossible to do this without spending ridiculous amounts of time calculating all the formulations that are built into the software. Arthur "Chip" Card of Manchester, New Hampshire, an avid skier, scuba instructor and paraglider pilot, began using Flex Rx this year to maintain his ability to partake in these strenuous activities. At first, he scoured magazines that suggested scores of routines, proposing the number of sets as well as reps. But at what weight? Too little is ineffective and too much can lead to injury. Now in his mid-40s, Card has been using Flex Rx for the past year and claims, "Flex Rx has filled in all the blanks for me. It provides a framework for my program and sets personal goals by detailing where I should be during each of the eightweek segments."

Assessing the individual's capacity in stages is essential to an effective program. This way, each individual is training at their own level within the range of stimulation that is optimal for their greatest gains. Because resistance training is the only way to increase lean muscle mass, it is the most effective form of exercise to decrease body fat.

Next time you are at the gym, notice the people who only do aerobics and compare them to the people who do resistance training as well as aerobics, and you will see the difference. The weight trainers are most often the leaner of the two. In fact, if you replace just five pounds of fat mass with five pounds of muscle, your body will burn approximately 30,000 extra calories a year--at rest--because muscle is metabolically active (it uses fat as energy to sustain itself).

So, if prior training hasn't given you the results you want, it may be because you've been on the wrong road to fitness. Flex Rx provides the "map" that takes away all the guesswork. By following the eightweek programs exactly as prescribed, you too can travel the super highway to muscular fitness!

Based in Deerfield, New Hampshire, Gina White is a freelance writer for several publications and member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (S.C.B.W.I.).

© COPYRIGHT 1999 Aerobics and Fitness Association of America © COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group

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