Benefits of Strength Training:
- Increased Metabolism: The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. And although aerobic exercise burns more calories than strength training during the same time of session, lifting weights burns more calories long after your workout ends as your body has to physically repair and refuel those muscles.
- Strengthened Bones: Especially important for women! When you lift weights, you engage muscles that pull on tendons, which pull on the bones. Added stress makes bones stronger.
- Helps You Avoid Injuries: Strong muscles, tendons and ligaments are less likely to give way under stress and are less likely to be injured. It can be your best defense against arthritis.
- Improved Balance: Fast-twitch muscle fibers we use for strength training deteriorate with age and they assist with speed and power movements and contract quickly when you lose your balance. Weight training helps maintain the ability of these fibers to activate.
- Improved Heart Health: When a muscle contracts, blood is pushed to the heart. The heart then recirculates oxygenated blood back to the muscles, which keeps the cardiovascular system strong.
- Reduces Stress and Depression: Exercise reduces the level of cortisol, the stress hormone, which relieves feelings of anxiety and agitation. A recent study found that people who strength trained 3x/week reported a 20% reduction in depression.
- Helps Prevent Diabetes: Lifting weights improves the way your body processes sugar.
Common types of strength training we might use for your personalized sessions:
Typical 12-Week Program:
- Phase 1: Build the Foundation/Endurance: This phase focuses on circuit training which provides a muscular and aerobic benefit. WHen you finish the first set, you move immediately to the next exercise using moderate weight.
- Phase 2: Hypertrophy: This will help increase the size of your muscles. Using heavier weight and performing 8-12 repetitions helps build muscle mass. Unlike the last phase, you complete all sets of one exercise before moving on to the second exercise.
- Phase 3: Strength/Firming: This phase helps firm and tone your body as you are lifting about 80-90% of your initial one-rep max completing 6-8 reps. Complete the first set of all exercises, rest 1-2 minutes between sets and start all over.
Peripheral Heart Action Training (PHAT):
- This is similar to circuit training and keeps you moving from one exercise to the next with minimal to no rest in between. The difference is with PHAT, you are focusing on alternating upper and lower body exercises. This really helps keep your heart rate up, which also provides a cardiovascular component to weight lifting. If you’re short on time and need to get in cardio and weights, this is your go to. It moves fast and you can cram a lot in!
