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Strength Training

Why Weight Train?

Make your bones stronger

Each pound of muscle you gain burns 35-50 calories per day so it is easier to be lean when you have muscle.

1 pound of muscle is MUCH smaller then a pound of fat. It’s HALF as big! So you have to gain enormous amounts of muscle to “bulk” up. This is a very difficult thing for most people to do and very, very hard for a woman to do! So weightlifting will burn fat and give you a tight, lean look!

With the mildest form of weight lifting (HIT), you can make yourself 150% stronger in 6-9 months, 300% stronger in 1-2 years and that translates into fewer injuries like lower back pain, knee injuries and shoulder injuries because a stronger body is less likely to be injured! For the first 8-12 weeks you can increase your strength by 2-5% per WEEK!

Balance your muscular strength; i.e. Runners tend to over-develop quadriceps (front of the leg muscle) and under-develop hamstrings (back of the leg) which causes injury because the hamstring muscle can’t stop the knee from over extending! This is especially true for women who have a 500% greater chance of a knee injury then a man! If the ratio of quadriceps to hamstring muscle strength is less then 3:2 your knee injury risk goes way down.

Weight training will either increase your flexibility (if you are tight now) or have no effect on flexibility. Olympic Weightlifters are among the most flexible Olympic athletes; only female gymnasts and divers are more flexible then the weight lifters!

Single-set weightlifting has been used in all age groups and fitness categories from 12 years old to 80-year-old nursing home patients and the results are always positive!

There are 2 rational ways to organize your strength workout

HIT – High Intensity Training

Periodization

The milder forms of HIT fall within current ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) guidelines and are supported by overwhelming data from many scientific studies. Read this article if you want to see serious scientific evidence on this topic

Physcian and Sports Medicine Article

Periodization is a complicated form of lifting done by advanced athletes. Almost all the NFL (National Football League) and top college sports teams do this type of lifting. You can go from something like 300% stronger under a HIT program to something like 400% stronger with a periodization program. The injury rate is probably a lit bit lower for periodization if you are doing a very complex workout and that is why the top-level athletes are doing it. I don’t recommend periodization for the general public because the formula for computing sets and reps is way too complicated and varies depending upon your build and age.

I recommend HIT over Periodization because:

You can do a HIT workout in 30 minutes, twice a week. So it 3-6 times less time spent working out then periodization routines.

HIT has the same health benefits as periodization.

Formula for sets & reps is the same for all age groups and body types. HIT is very simple. Periodization is very complicated.

All Major medical organizations and guidelines agree that a HIT workout is all that is medically necessary & optimal.

For more information on Periodization:

Krista's Web site; also great info on squat & female specific issues

Resistance Training by Fleck & Kramer

Periodization Training by Tudor Bompa/ He is the GOD of periodization

Serious Strength Training by Bompa & Cornachio

For more information on all types of weight lifting

Misc.fitness.weights (MFW) a usenet group where people discuss weight lifting. They love Periodization and Squats. Here is a link to this groups FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). It contains information about HIT and Periodization

http://www.trygve.com/mfw_faq.html

Here is a link to MFW where you can post questions and read past discussions

misc.fitness.weights

FAQ for HIT

http://www.cyberpump.com/hitfaq/

Another HIT FAQ designed for someone with an average build who wants to get as big as possible

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/body-building/hardgainer-faq/

How do I design a Safe HIT workout? (This may be a little complicated for a beginner! Don’t worry! I have included a sample beginner workout)

Pick 8-10 exercises which work your entire body.

Exercises are done in order

Big muscles first, then smaller muscles

You can also alternate upper body then lower body exercises but within each section (upper or lower) you still go big muscle to small muscle.8-12 reps.

If you can do 12 repetitions then you should increase the weight by 5% the next time you workout you should increase the weight by 5%

Workout 2-3 times per week and rest at least 48 hours between workouts

Each repetition should take 5 seconds; 3 seconds to raise the weight and 2 seconds to lower it. Never jerk the weight or use bad form.

Get a doctors approval before doing the workout especially if you have any major health problems or are over 40 under 16 years old.

Do at least 10 minutes of cardio before you start workout so that your muscles are warm & flexible. DO NOT stretch before cardio or weightlifting! Warm the muscles first with cardio then do weights or stretching!

Do some gentle stretching after your weight workout!