Lesson 9 : Strength Training

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Adding Muscle Mass

If you are exercising and strength training to gain muscle mass, your goal is hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is an increase in muscle mass and strength. Millions of tiny fibers called myofibrils make up your muscles. When performing strength training exercises, some of these fibers break under the tension. They then release chemicals that make your muscles sore. These chemical messages also tell the body to repair the myofibrils within the muscles cells and to add a few more. This will increase your muscle mass and will help your body better achieve the same exercise the next time you do it. When you increase resistance with heavier weights, this stimulates the body to build more myofibrils. In this way you work with your body's natural healing ability to achieve greater muscle mass and strength. It is quite amazing how the body takes care of itself, even without our knowledge!

When you use weights that are lighter with more repetitions, you force the muscle to adapt by using its energy more efficiently. If you cross train (do a variety of different strength training techniques), you will continually stimulate your muscles to both get larger and to keep them in better aerobic shape.

Strength Training Equipment

Weight Machines: can be found at gyms and health clubs. There is generally a seat that is adjustable for height and a bar or set of handles that you push or pull, with weights at the other end of the chain or cable. You can adjust the weight of your resistance by adjusting pins in the stack of weight plates. These machines can be quite helpful for beginners. You don't have to worry about dropping a bar or dumbbells on the floor. They quite often put your body in the correct position for proper joint movement (plus there is usually a picture and written instructions on the machine's use stuck to the side). These weight machines really isolate specific muscle groups with their range of motion, if you want to work on specific areas of weakness. You can do your reps quickly on a machine after adjusting your seat and weight choice.

The down side of using weight machines all the time is that they can become boring and/or your muscles get used to only one movement. Some weight machines don't fit everybody, and some are especially difficult for women to adjust to their small frames. Some experts also think it is not beneficial to strengthen a muscle in an isolated way, but rather to strengthen them with other muscle groups in a more natural motion that you would use in everyday life.

Free Weights: These are bars with weight plates on each end. Barbells (longer bars, use 2 hands) and dumbbells (short bars, use 1 hand) allow great flexibility in your workouts for strength training. Fitness centers usually have varying increments of hand-held dumbbells ranging from 3 pounds up to 120 pounds. The barbells often have no weights on the end: you can add different weight plates and then secure them with a collar, depending of the amount of weight you want. There are literally hundreds of ways to use a pair of dumbbells, and you can use them to do exercises where your body is moving in a more real-life way. Free weights allow you to strengthen muscles that wouldn't get much attention if you were doing isolation exercises with machines. If you are new to free weights, you will need more instruction on how to perform different exercises so that you do not injure your muscles or joints. You also need to be careful when you are moving the weights - be sure to keep control of your movements so that you don't crash your dumbbells together!

Weight benches are commonly used in different free weight exercises. Often the bench can rise up to be inclined or lower to be declined. Adjusting the incline can alter the specific muscle fibers that you are using (for example bench pressing a bar at different angles for targeting all fibers of your pectoralis major muscle).

Tubes and Bands: Exercise tubes and bands are like thick rubber bands. They can be found in medical supply stores (used in hospitals for rehabilitation). These workout tools take up very little space and are easily portable. They are easy to adjust and are inexpensive. The disadvantages are that if you lose your grasp, you just might get slapped in the face! It is also not possible to discover how much weight you are actually moving in a particular exercise. There is a limit to how much strength your body can develop by using such bands.

Your Body: You can also use the weight of your body as resistance for exercising. You can do leg lifts, push-ups, pull-ups, etc. Push-ups and pull-ups use many major muscle groups of your upper body, and so can be a very good addition to your other strength training. Once you get strong enough to do such exercises, you don't have any more weight to add to continue to get stronger! So, that's when the gym weights come in handy.

Weight Workouts

When lifting weights you will want to perform reps and sets. You will repeat a specific action (say, bicep curls) for a number of repetitions. Then you will rest, and begin your second set. To tone your muscles and develop strength, you should do 8 to 15 reps with a challenging weight. If you are aiming at really bulking up and developing as much muscle mass as your body can possibly develop, you will need to do only 8 repetitions. For this, you will use a heavier weight. Either way, in order to gain strength and mass, you will need to choose a weight level that makes if very challenging (not impossible) to complete your last rep of every set. You can generally use more weight with larger muscle groups (thighs, chest, upper back) and less weight for smaller muscles (shoulders, arms, and abs).

After lifting for a while, when you notice that you can easily do your maximum number of reps, increase the weight to the next increment and then do fewer repetitions. While you are lifting weights, be sure to lift slowly (about 2 seconds on the lifting) and to let it down easily (taking about 4 seconds). If you have no idea where to start, begin with one set of 10 to 15 reps (make sure the last rep is challenging). This is a good idea for someone who just wants to gain some strength for general health. If you want some serious strength, do 3 to 6 sets of exercises per muscle group. Rest for about 90 seconds between each set to allow your muscles time to recuperate. When you feel that you are in better shape, you can rest for 30 seconds or so between sets.

It is a good idea to begin your workout with the larger muscle groups of the body and then finish with the smaller ones. If you start with the forearms, for example, by the time you get to the bench press for your pecs (which requires use of forearm muscles) your forearms may be too tired to work fully. Work your muscles two to three times per week, so that your muscles can rest sufficiently. Lifting weights literally tears the fibers of your muscle, so they need 48 hours to repair and rebuild.

Lesson 8 Assignment:

1. What are some of the benefits of using weight machines?

2.  

   In your own words, describe what happens to muscles when you lift weights? How do they grow?

3.  

   How does it benefit your muscles to do different types of strength training activities?

4.  

   What are some of the challenges or disadvantages of using weight machines?

5.  

   What's the difference between dumbbells and barbells? (Barbells (longer bars, use 2 hands) and dumbbells (short bars, use 1 hand)

6.  

   What are some of the benefits of using free weights for strength training?

7.  

   What are some of the disadvantage of using free weights?

8.  

   What are the advantages of using exercise bands and tubes?)

9.  

   What kind of exercises can you do to use your body as the weight/force in strength training?

10.  

    If you perform 8 repetitions and 2 sets with very heavy weights, so that your last one is nearly impossible, what is your goal?

11.  

    If you perform 10 reps and 2 sets with challenging, but not too heavy weights, what is your goal?

12.  

    Why would you want to exercise smaller muscle groups of the limbs before using larger muscle groups?

13.  

    What did you learn about strength training in this lesson that you didn't know before?

14.  

    Have you ever embarked upon a strength training activity? Was it by yourself or with a group athletic team? What do you like about it?(If you have never done strength training, what is the most appealing benefit to you?)