Shed U: Strength Training 101

Good morning and welcome back to Shed U! Today we will be discussing…strength training!

Strength training is usually not women’s favorite thing on the menu. We like to spend all our time doing cardio and way less time pumping iron. Not a good decision! Building muscular strength is so important to health, fitness, and weight loss. Here are some key things to know about it.

• Regular strength training results in more physical capacity, a more toned appearance, higher metabolic function (i.e.  more calories burned at rest), and decreased injury risk (both in exercise and in everyday life).
• When designing a strength training program, it’s important to select at least one exercise for each major muscle group: quads, hamstrings, hips, lower back, abs, chest, upper back, biceps, triceps, shoulders, and neck
• You should do the moves in order from the larger muscle groups to the smaller muscle groups (i.e. legs to abs, to arms) because you need more energy for the more demanding muscle groups.
• Lifting at a fast pace puts a high level of stress on the muscles and tisses so 1-2 seconds for lifting and 3-4 seconds for lowering (or releasing, in some cases) is ideal.
• Each time you perform a move, it’s called a repetition. An exercise set is a number of successive reps performed without resting; studies show strength gains from one, two, and three sets, so it’s really a matter of personal preference.
• The number of reps varies based on your goal, but in general, you should aim for 8-12 reps with a weight that makes the last two reps very difficult.
• Many women underestimate their strength, so it’s important to lift weights that wear you out in 8-12 reps. You’re probably stronger than you think you are.
  
• Lifting weights will not make you bulk up. It just won’t!
• You should add reps before adding more weight, so after you can perform 12 reps comfortably, the resistance should be increased (by around 5 percent) and the reps should be taken back down to 8
• A rest day between training sessions is very important; during the recovery period, the muscles build higher levels of strength. An every-other-day schedule is a good way to go!
• One type of muscle soreness–delayed onset muscle soreness–is usually experienced 24-48 hours after strength training. This always happens to me! (Right now as a matter of fact.) I love it because I know I did something and it’s working but I hate it because I have to ease into a position to pee. It can be really tempting to skip your next workout session when this happens, but light aerobic activity like jogging or using the elliptical, combined with stretching, will usually help.
• Two full-body strength sessions per week is a good amount to see a significant increase in strength; even if you lift three times per week, most of the strength gains will come in the first two sessions
• If you want to lift four days a week, break it up and do different muscle groups on alternating days (like legs and back on Monday and Wednesday and abs and arms on Tuesday and Thursday)
• If you decide to do strength training and cardio on the same day, do the strength training first!! I can’t suggest this enough; it’s so tempting to skip strength training when you’re pressed for time or you’re exhausted from your cardio routine, so just get it done right away.
• Circuit training is a great way to strength train because it saves time; you go from move to move with less resting between each. You can also do bursts of cardio in between the strength moves for a super efficient workout (think 60 seconds of jumping jacks, jogging, etc.) If you’re not circuit training, 30 seconds to two minutes of rest is good between sets.
• You should do a little lower-body cardio after strength training to keep blood from pooling there. Cycling or walking for 5-10 minutes is a good way to cool down.
• It’s super important to record your sessions! Keep track of reps, sets, and weight. Otherwise you won’t be able to remember what you did last time (Did I lift ten pounds? Fifteen? Do I do bicep curls or hammer curls? Oh fuck it…) and it will be harder to improve. Take a little notebook if you have to–so worth it!

So many girls are cardio queens and never want to hit the weights; it’s a hard mentality to overcome, but it’s so worth it!

Have a great day!

Tagged as: muscles, strength training, weight lifting