Fitness Tips by Brad Schoenfeld
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Understanding the benefits of weight training
How much weight should you lift?
Aerobic Exercise and Overtraining
Is Soreness Necessary to Achieve Results?
Understanding the benefits of weight training
Many feel that cardiovascular exercise is the best way to achieve the body
of their dreams. While cardiovascular exercise is certainly an important
component in a workout, weight training is even more important. Here are
some of the reasons why:
- Increased Strength: People lose muscle mass each year after the age
of 35. The only way to remedy this problem is by training with weights.
- Increased Bone Density: People lose up to 1% of their bone density
each year after the age of thirty. Eventually, this can lead to osteoporosis,
a debilitating bone disease. Weight training actually increases bone
density and counteracts its debilitating effects.
- Increased Metabolic Activity: Muscle is the only body tissue that increases
your metabolism (which increases your body's ability to burn calories).
Studies show that adding a pound of muscle can help you burn an additional
30 to 50 calories a day... at rest!
- Improved Self-Image: As the saying goes, "when you look good, you feel
good." While cardiovascular exercise can help to shed excess fat from
your body, weight training will 'shape' the muscles and give your body
a sleek, toned appearance.
- Reduced Stress: The physical aspect of training with weights requires
a great deal of mental focus and helps to alleviate outside distractions.
It causes the brain to secrete endorphins, which are chemical messengers
that serve to give a person feelings of elation.
How much weight should you lift?
Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of weight training is the concept of
using 'heavy' vs. 'light' weights. In reality, 'heavy' and 'light' merely
describe one's perception about a weight. The only way to maximize your potential
is to use a weight that makes it difficult to finish the last repetition
of a set. Simply stated, when a weight is 'easy' to lift, it is too light!
- Use a weight that is heavy enough, where the last repetition is very
difficult to perform. This is called 'training to failure'. As soon as
your body adapts and you can easily complete your desired repetition
range, increase the weight to sculpt your body to its ultimate potential.
- Make sure you rest between sets. This will help dictate how much weight
can be utilized in an exercise. Short rest intervals will help to keep
your heart rate up and provide a more aerobic type of workout. As a rule,
rest intervals should be short (30 seconds or less) if one wants to get
lean, and longer (one minute or more) to increase mass.
Aerobic Exercise and Overtraining
Because cardiovascular exercise is an endurance-oriented activity often executed
at a decreased level of intensity, many feel that there is no limit to how
much they can perform. While your body can tolerate a greater volume of aerobic
exercise than anaerobic activity, too much eventually will have a negative
impact on your physique.
- The body needs rest and recuperation to regenerate its glycogen stores.
Glycogen reserves are your body's primary energy source, giving you the
strength and endurance to perform everyday chores. Since cardio burns
glycogen (as well as fat) during exercise performance, too much of it
will deplete these reserves, ultimately causing you to become overtrained.
- Overtraining makes your body less efficient in utilizing fat for fuel,
and is apt to feed on your muscle tissue (due to a secretion of stress
hormones) for energy. Therefore, keen attention must be paid to symptoms
related to overtraining, modifying your aerobic capacity according to
your physical state.
Is Soreness Necessary to Achieve Results?
Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is often misunderstood. Contrary to
popular belief, it is totally unrelated to a buildup of lactic acid. Lactate
is rapidly cleared from muscles following a workout. Current theory suggests
that DOMS is actually caused by damage to muscle tissue. It is fundamentally
due to "eccentric" exercise, where muscles are lengthened under extreme tension.
By all accounts, research has proven that DOMS is not a prerequisite for
achieving results. It is merely an indication that you have induced muscular
trauma. The human body is a very adaptive organism and readily adjusts to
the rigors of intense exercise. Over time, various physiologic adaptations
take place in your body that ultimately make it resistant to further muscular
soreness. After several months of training, most people experience little
if any post-exercise soreness.
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